Hospital Hearts
by hotelheart23
Summary: "I'm sorry that I've mistaken your hotel heart for a hospital. You were supposed to heal me but you want to watch me come and go." ... Christian and Ana met during childhood and Ana instantly knew that they were meant to be. Christian knew too but can he ever overcome his past? What happens when a secret threatens the two? Will love survive? (Christian and Ana are of the same age).
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Below.**

 **Disclaimer: FSOG is not mine**

 **Chapter 1**

"Water never expires but water bottles do. Bodies may be gone but souls won't," Grace always told him.

Little five year-old Christian clutched the water bottle between his fragile hands. It had been over a year since he was found by his new parents, yet he still couldn't find a single word to say. He may never respond but he was always listening. His mind went back to Ella. Ella, his angel. Ella, the first person he ever loved. Ella, the one who was supposed to save him. Ella, the name spelled by the cracks in his heart. Five year old Christian shuddered every time he thought of her. In his memories, she will always be the lifeless body he has been trapped with for days. He hungered before her and she didn't move an inch. Now he felt himself tearing up again. Where's Ella's water now? Did it flow before him?

The little boy in his breakable frame stared at the blue sky up above. Somehow the color blue always fascinated him.

Blue. Like her eyes.

Christian always thought of the little girl who sat right across her. During his first day at kindergarten, no one could ever get to talk to him. Not even his teacher nor his therapist could make him utter the words Carrick and Grace wanted him to know. Christian had a feeling that his classmate wanted to speak to him since day one. He observed her from afar and he instantly knew that she was too bright for him. The brightness in her reminded him of the sun but at the age of five, Christian knew that he hated daytime.

During art sessions, the little girl would spell out his name with clays and would try to draw his face. Christian even thought that it was a potato, but the little girl insisted that it's him. Even the teacher knew that the small girl's head over heels for him. Love, the teacher realized, had higher chances happening in the earlier years. When you grow old, there it becomes rare.

That small girl is Anastasia Steele and she's headed to his direction now.

For the first time in forever, she finally found the courage to speak to him. In fact, Christian almost went into shock because she sat right next to him under the sycamore tree. He set inches of space between the two of them but with a giddy smile, the girl with two ponytails and flat fringe would enclose the space.

He gave space . . . she closed it.

Again . . . she closed it.

Again . . .

Christian gave up. No matter what he did, the girl had a plan in mind. He knew she was going to say something so he just let her. It was never gonna happen anyway; him replying.

She spoke with such a squeaky voice, "Hello Chwistian! I made something for you." She handed him a paper with two stick figures. Christian took it from her, silently thinking that it looked horrible. It was obvious that they were male and female. Why did Ana want to give this to him?

"I like you, Chwistian!"

He raised his brow at her.

"I like you!"

"What?" He thought.

"You don't have to say anything. I know you like me too."

Christian decided to stop looking at her and focus on the drawing instead.

Ana explained with a blush, "That is our wedding photo."

Christian took a long moment to stare at her little face. He couldn't deny that as a five year old, he was fluttered with all those words. No girl ever expressed like that to him. He couldn't even understand how to define liking someone.

He just noticed her Caspian Sea of eyes glimmer when it met daylight.

He noticed her brown hair cascading down her shoulders like waterfalls caught in the sweetest of landslide.

He noticed the way she twisted her fingers, showing that she was nervous with her act of confession.

Seconds turned into minutes and that's when he noticed . . .

Christian glared.

Christian crumpled the paper and threw it right to her face.

Christian walked away.

For he noticed that she looked like her.

She looked like Ella.

 **Hi! Have you ever woken up and just thought that you should write something? Well, this is it! Thank you so much for reading and I will update daily. Thank you.**

 **Hotelheart23**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Below.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own FSOG.**

 **Chapter 2**

"You got into another fight again? What happened?" Unlike Carrick, Grace had no signs of reprimanding the now seven year old boy. He just folded his arms in response, eyes attached to the blank sight of the ground. His lips curled up when he understood that he has disappointed them.

His older brother at the age of nine defended him, "Christian's the victim, Mom! Those boys just wanted someone to pick on! They teased Christian about being adopted because no one wants him so he punched them."

"Fuck," Carrick cursed under his breath causing Grace to glare at him.

He ranted, "Why are we dealing with this kind of situation? Didn't we choose a prestigious school because we believe that they teach children some good manners? How can nine year olds be that cruel towards our son?! Grace, I am not kidding right now. We are the primary sponsors of that school so I shall order those bullies to be kicked out. I don't care that it's the middle of the school year! I want them out!"

A very furious Carrick grabbed his phone from his pocket to scream at the headmaster of the school. Christian flinched as soon as he heard how fearsome his lawyer of a father can be. He was speaking in legal codes and even Grace couldn't understand what he had spoken.

Christian still looked down, ashamed of the bruises in his face. Grace knelt before him while Elliott stood by the newly adopted Mia's crib.

The comforting voice of his mother soothed, "Christian?"

He didn't say anything.

"Christian? I know you want to say something."

Nothing.

"Christian, are we coming back to this? Are you going to give me the silent treatment again? I thought we're past that issue!" She was frustrated and it ached to know that it was because of him.

Yes, he was speaking.

 _Elliott and Christian were playing with their toy cars. Elliott was feeling extreme joy since Christian decided to play with him. He was witnessing his brother smile and heard him laugh. He realized that he was healing and though the pain might be there, his brother can still move on and help himself. At the age of nine, Elliott understood what pain was but unlike Christian, he had a brighter outlook at life. Their toy trucks were crashing together and Christian gained a booming laughter._

 _Elliott was supposed to say something but they were interrupted by the sound of the opening door. Entered Carrick and Grace so Elliott rushed down the stairs to meet them, eyes brightened up as soon as he saw that they were holding a cooing baby. Grace looked very content and it was contagious that Elliott's heart soared like the clouds he thought were cotton candy once._

 _He stared at his new sister then breathed deeply._

" _Christian, come here. Meet your sister." Christian was overlooking them from the house's second floor. He complied with her request and however slow his steps down the stairs were, they were patient. Carrick didn't know why but he knew that Christian will love Mia. Carrick could see that Christian can take good care of her, can play with her, and read those fairy tales for her. He laughed at the thought of his son reading some Cinderella, Little Mermaid, Snow White . . ._

 _Christian saw Mia and they were immobilized when he whispered, "Mia"._

 _Louder this time: "Mia."_

 _Carrick then realized that Christian was like Snow White. He fell into a world of darkness when he took a bite of his mother's poison apple heart. But Mia was the kiss that woke him up. He's alive again, and for the first time, with sincerity and truthfulness, Carrick and Grace knew that they were really a family._

As of the moment, Grace feared that because of all the bullying he experienced, Christian would go back to being the speechless boy he once was. Grace didn't want to live with the loudest of his silence again. All she wanted was to exchange loving words with his son. He reached towards his face and traced the bruises on his skin. They were islands of purples and blues and some even have red rivers.

Grace pulled his chin up and with glimmering eyes, she told him headstrong, "They won't do it again, okay? Mom and Dad are here for you."

Christian nodded.

"Mom and Dad are here for you. Mom and Dad will always be here. Elliott and Mia are here as well. You have a family. We want you. We will always want you."

Christian cracked into sobs and even Elliott felt his tears coming out.

In between the weeps, Christian said innocently, "I . . . will . . . always . . . want you too."

Christian knew that what happened today should be forgotten and he should continue on going to school like the top student he was, but he just couldn't let this slip away like sand in his hands. He wanted this memory to linger. Yes, he had been a part of the Greys for three years but this was the first moment he truly thought that he didn't want to be apart from the Greys. He found home now.

Not only because of the Greys, but because of Ana too . . .

 _The seven year old boy was eating an apple under the sycamore tree when a bunch of nine year old boys threw pebbles at him. They were laughing while Christian tried to shield himself. There were about four of them and Christian's eyes were turning red now and he stood up to run away from them._

 _He was about to run but one of them blocked his way, causing him to fall down the ground. One pebble hit him right above the eye and he cried in pain._

" _Isn't he Elliott's adopted brother?"_

" _Look at him! He's crying now! No one wants him."_

" _Elliott's adopted too, right?"_

" _Unwanted kids!"_

 _They continued throwing pebbles at him and Christian dodged some still on the ground. That's when he thought about_ her _again. Did she ever want him? Did she ever want to love him? Did it hurt her when she couldn't move when he shook her? Did it ever hurt her when his chest was treated like an ashtray?_

" _STOP!" A small squeaky voice appeared and the four boys stopped throwing at him._

" _What the hell?!"_

 _Ana marched as if she were taller than these boys. "Who the hell do you think you are?! Why are you doing this to my Christian?!"_

 _They guffawed. "Is this your girlfriend?! Wow! We're so scared!"_

" _I mean it! Stop it!"_

" _And are we gonna listen?" They continued throwing pebbles but this time Ana took it. She extended both her arms sideward so that none could hit Christian. She took the pain because she thought no one should hurt her future husband. She glanced towards Christian's face and he couldn't fathom the thought that she could still smile despite being hit by pebbles repetitively._

 _Like him, she was bleeding too but on the lip._

 _He didn't know why but the thought of Ana being hurt twisted his heart. With all strength a seven year old had, he launched at one of the boys and showed how violent he can be. It was a rumble. There were punches and curses and Ana took the time to report what's happening._

 _Sooner than later, the teacher and security guard appeared to stop the fight. Christian was breathing rapidly, bruised and bleeding while the boys still laughed mercilessly. The teachers swore that they were going to be criminals one day. They were being summoned while Christian, now wrapped in the coat his teacher offered walked towards Ana._

 _He reached out to touch the cut on her lip and she winced._

" _Are you okay?" he whispers._

 _Ana's eyes widened._

 _He repeats clearly this time, "Are you okay?"_

" _I am now."_

 _He was about to say something but she added,_

" _Because I finally get to hear your voice."_

 _He didn't know how to respond then. She was smiling before him like an angel and there he realized how she was willing to get hurt for his own sake. She looked content as though his voice would mean the world to her. He had a hard time looking at her because of the painful flashbacks that follow afterwards. But now? It was bearable. He thought of her foolishness more than her face._

 _She was never wise but love is not a matter of wisdom. Foolish are those who love but happier._

 _Love . . . Christian didn't know what it means until now when she kissed his cheek and whispered, "Don't listen to them. I will always want you."_

 **A/N: Thank you so much to all who have read my previous chapter. You don't know how happy you've made me. Thanks for all the views, follows, favorites, and author alerts. You guys are the best.**

 **What do you think of this chapter? All I want for Christmas is . . . your reviews! Lol! Thank you!**

 **Hotelheart23**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Below**

 **Disclaimer: FSOG is not mine**

 **Chapter 3**

"As I was saying, the figures of speech include simile, metaphor, onomatopoeia, hyperbole, alliteration and a lot more. We've been studying for an hour now and I've explained all of them so Leila, can you give me one sample sentence per figure of speech?" The now twelve year old Christian Grey's lifeless tone doesn't seem to send the message to Leila. He wants this tutorial session to be over with. He's been cutting classes and this has been a punishment to him. Little does the teacher know that the punishment is not the tutorial part but the student he's tutoring.

Leila is . . . Leila. Her name is enough for a description. The two of them are studying inside the school cafeteria and Christian doesn't even know why. He's insisted to be on the library but Leila persisted about being hungry. She bought a plate of spaghetti and it remained untouched until now.

With her too giddy voice, she spoke, "Simile: Christian's eyes are as grey as the dust in my dirty window."

"Oh wow, Leila-"

She interrupts, "Metaphor: Christian is a fridge. There're so many flavors inside of him!"

"Uhm—"

"Onomatopoeia: 'Beat! Beat! Beat!', Christian's heart said as she saw Leila."

Christian decided that he already had enough of this. He gave her a very tiny smile before he spoke, "Leila, I think you already are an Aplus student, okay? Let's end this tutorial session and you may now eat your spaghetti."

"But don't you want to kiss me?"

"Huh?"

"I bought this spaghetti for first kiss goals! Remember Lady and the Tramp? They had their first kiss while sharing a strand of spaghetti, right? Now let's do the same . . ." Leila used her nose to move the meatball closer to Christian just like what the beautiful brown dog did in the movie. Christian gulped at how crazy she sounded and looked like at the moment. He thought Leila was crazy but never this much.

He laid out his escape route so he told her, "Can you move the meatball further?"

Leila nodded and when she looked down for her nose to attach to the meatball, Christian ran away from the cafeteria. He now had a different definition for a horror movie. That was really scary. He swore he'll never cut classes again. Why did he cut classes? He went for a smoke and he's started drinking. At the age of twelve, it's alarming. But it's the only way Christian can forget _her_.

The twelve year old boy rode a bike at home and when he's legal, it will be a motorcycle. It took him a tantrum and Grace's tears to get approval of riding home alone. He didn't want to be dependent on bodyguards. He knew he was a part of a prestigious and powerful family and he could die because of the envious and worldly people.

But what's the point of living when all you have are traumatic memories? His mind was a trench of doubts and self-loathing so what could be bad about dying?

"Christian!"

He released a frustrated sigh as soon as he realized the voice that called him out. He looked behind to see Ana riding a bike ride behind him too. The difference was that she obviously struggled. She needed training wheels and Christian was worried.

"Ana, what are you doing?"

Christian didn't understand why she kept on chasing him from the moment they were just small kindergarteners. No matter how many times he pushed her away, she was still there. It was like when he tried to close his eyes whilst lying down the meadow, he never saw the stars but he knew it was always there. It was much like Ana.

Unlike Leila, Ana didn't go too far. Her level of pursuit was an emotional one. She clearly knows what she wants right from the very beginning and she won't stop until she finally has Christian. Anastasia Steele just wanted to hold like him and kiss him whenever she wanted to. When she noticed that he was riding a bicycle on the way home, she instantly bought one too. Christian was never annoyed when she chased him. Maybe it's because he's used to it or maybe it can go the other way around. Christian wanted it to be the former rather than the latter.

"I am riding a bicycle!"

"I know but why?!"

They had to shout since Christian was meters away from her.

"Because I am good at it!"

"You are not good at it! Look at your stance!"

"Christian, I wanna tell you something!"

"Why am I not surprised?!"

"I was with Jose an hour ago."

Christian's grip on the bicycle tightened but he concealed what he's really feeling, "So?"

"So . . . are you jealous?"

"Ana, why would I be jealous?"

"Because . . . . because . . . you should be! I mean it's really unfair! Why were you with Leila in the cafeteria?! You two seemed like you were enjoying your time together. I guess it should go the same with Jose and me, huh? What do you say about that?"

"Ana . . ." They're not even together but they're fighting like immature couples.

"What, Christian?"

"Can you please just stop it? The thought of Leila cringes me!"

"REALLY?" Ana is squealing right now as if Christian just spoke the nicest words she heard.

"Really so please . . . just don't mention her name." It disgusted Christian to remember Leila's actuations just a few moments ago and it disgusted him more that Ana was getting jealous because of her.

"YES! I KNEW IT! I KNEW THAT YOU DON'T LIKE HER—AAHH!" Christian then grew alarmed at her scream. He looked back and rushed back to her direction. She has fallen down from the bicycle. Christian's heartbeat reminded him of the hummingbird's wings and he got absolutely tensed. Sweat was falling freely from his pores and he felt his skin heat up since all he thought of was if Ana's okay.

Her back was lying flatly on the road and Christian checked if she was breathing . . . and she wasn't. He shook her, "Ana! Ana! Wake up! Are you okay?!" He checked her head for any concussions but there was none. Nevertheless, she wasn't breathing so he was getting anxious. Christian leaned forward to press his mouth to hers for CPR purposed but his eyes widened when he felt her lips . . . and not her mouth anymore.

Ana's hand found her way to the nape of his neck, motioning him to be closer to him. Her eyes were closed for she felt contented of the moment they just had together. Christian, on the other hand, had his eyes wide at first but they eventually closed. It wasn't bad for a first kiss.

The two realized that a kiss can be a book. There were periods and commas in between and moments when there were exclamation points, but what mattered most was the story of how words could never be spoken but were written instead. When Christian pulled away from her, it was a reaction of reading a good book: speechless and wanted to start all over despite knowing how it already felt.

Ana smirked at him and whispered, "Hi . . ."

Christian looked away and stood up and Ana, of course, walked behind him. She ignored the slight pain from her legs as she followed right behind him. For the first time since she was five, she finally felt fear of how Christian might react. For the first time ever, her fingers shook at the thought of him completely blocking her out of his life. If there was one thing she's scared of the most, it's him being away from her. It's okay if he was ignoring her advances but completely ignoring her and making her stop would make things worse.

She froze in her tracks as Christian did too. He looked back at her with the saturating sunset behind him. He offered her one small but sincere smile. And then there she realized that he had always felt the same. He couldn't say it but he felt it. There was a huge difference but it's better than nothing at all.

There will never be a day she'll get tired of him. There will never be a day when she won't make him feel that however deep his doubts and loathing was, she'll push through the seabed to find the treasures of his past and the beautiful in him. In fact, he's already the most beautiful for her.

"Tutorial," he uttered mysteriously.

"Huh?" she was confused then.

He assured, "It was just a tutorial with Leila so you have nothing to worry about."

So she smiled back at him.

~HH~

Christian sat on the veranda of his bedroom, cigarette stick attached to his lips. The grey smoke filled his lungs then art was made out of smoke in the air when he puffed it out of his red lips. Cigarette worked before but now it didn't. His mind was a psychedelic web of flashbacks and visions. It was in a tug-of-war between Ella's dead body and his possible future with Ana.

"Christian?" His loving mother interrupted his thoughts and he immediately threw the cigarette stick below the garden.

"Mom?"

Grace moved closer to him but not close enough to smell the reeking smoke on him. Call it puberty but Christian wasn't scared of her scolds anymore. He may be his mother but she wasn't enough to make him scared. Yes, he had accepted being a Grey when he was seven but that didn't mean that he was a bastard child who came from a no-good Ella and that he wasn't fucked up. Still to this day, he wondered if someone could truly love a mess like him.

Something was wrong with Grace. There was her warmth but she was . . . scared. What could be the problem?

"Christian, I need to tell you something."

"What is it?"

"I know you insisted that you could go home alone. I apologize but I've sent bodyguards secretly to protect you."

"MOM—"

He was about to shout but Grace cut him off with her usually calm and caring voice, "Christian, they showed me a photo of you and Anastasia Rose Steele kissing."

He turned quiet then. Should he explain? Should he get defensive?

Grace took him by surprise when she warned, "Christian, son, I want you to stay away from her. Christian, I don't want you to be interacting with her anymore, okay? Whatever it is that you have, please don't—"

"Why?! Is it because her mom's a four-time divorcee and they're secretly getting poor?!" Christian was clueless as to why he was so venomous.

"No, Christian. It's never about money. It's about you and Ana getting hurt in the end. I don't want the two of you to get hurt. You are my son and I want you to be okay as always. If you don't want things to go way out of control, stay away from Ana Steele. Please Christian . . . I am begging you to stay away from her."

But why? Christian never got his answer.

 **A/N: Thank you for those who have read and reviewed last chapter. Thank you for the follow, favorites, and author alerts.**

 **Now, what do you think about this chapter? Let me hear your thoughts. Thanks!**

 **Hotelheart23**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Below**

 **Disclaimer: FSOG is not mine**

Chapter 4

"Christian, you swore we'd never get caught but what's this?" One of the boys was angry and all Christian do was smirk at him. Four of them are now in the headmaster's office. They were caught drinking in the middle of the school gym at exactly two-thirty a.m. For fourteen year olds, they were gutsier than no one's ever been at school.

Looking at Christian right now, he had a cut on his lips like all the words he didn't speak have pushed through to come out, dark circles under his eyes as if they were the shadows of the face he sees before he couldn't sleep, and a total of three band aids, showing that no matter all the efforts, he refused to be healed.

"To be honest, bourbon tasted better than whiskey," Luke said.

Christian rolled his eyes, "Man, whiskey tasted better, I guarantee you that."

One of the boys requested, "Your filthy rich so let's have vodka next time?"

"Where shall we drink it?" Luke questioned.

Christian confirmed, "We're gonna drink it here."

"Here here?"

"Yes, the headmaster's office." The three of them planned their next drinking session disregarding the facts that they're just fourteen year olds and that they're about to be punished by the school headmaster for such violation. Christian knew that if his parents weren't huge sponsors of the school, he would have been kicked out for a long time ago. That's what pissed him most. He knew he deserved less but why do people tend to stick with him? He was cactus. Every bit of his skin could extremely hurt someone.

Christian never understood so he relied on his cigarettes and alcoholic beverages. He was lost in this world like a puzzle piece that realized that the puzzle was completed without it. Each time he drank, he questioned how the world could be so unfair. How can he find a girl but looks exactly like Ella? Each time he smoked, he wondered how a man could be so cruel towards his four year old self.

That brought him back to thinking of the present.

He heard Luke worry, "Make sure vodka tastes good, huh?"

The other boy named Boyce said, "You know who tastes better?"

"Who?"

"Anastasia Rose Steele," Boyce spoke her name like a pervert so Christian slapped both of their cheeks with full force. His nose was flaring since they were talking about her in a way she never deserves.

With so much bitterness, Christian asked, "How did she get into this conversation? How is she related to bourbon, whiskey, or vodka? How?!" He was shouting now, "Boyce, don't you dare talk to her the same way again, okay? Don't you dare do that! If you're going to talk about her that way, you better run away because when I see you after disrespecting her, I will cut your hand. Do you hear me? I am serious!"

Boyce wasn't shaken. He knew Christian was real angry right now. But what can he do? He was practically an accomplice. Boyce glanced at the window and saw Ana peeping. She was really worried about him and since she bribed Boyce, he was tasked to ask Christian about the questions Ana wanted an answer for a long time.

"I'm sorry, bro. So uhm . . . what's the deal with her?"

"What do you mean by that?!" Christian looked scary.

"I want to date her so I want to know," Boyce lied carelessly so Christian kicked his friend's chair. Boyce fell down the floor and Ana tried not to laugh from outside the window. She knew he would get jealous.

"You are dating her all of a sudden?"

Boyce lied convincingly, "Yes! You wanna know why?"

Christian already knows why. Who doesn't want to date the prettiest girl in school? Who doesn't want a girl so kind that she flew to a country million miles away after an earthquake struck it? Who doesn't want a girl who makes everyone wonder how a big heart could fit in such a small chest? And the most complicated question of all: how can she out of all people, fall in love with a man who gets disturbed by looking at her face?

"Why do you want to date her?"

"Because she has nice legs"

Christian kicked Boyce and he moaned in pain.

He asked, "Why don't you date her anyway? She's obviously so in love with you since we were kids."

Because she deserved better

Because she's the replica of Ella's face

Because she was something so bright and he doesn't know if he can handle her

"Come on, Christian, I just need one good reason."

He settled for a smooth lie, "Because . . ."

Ana braced herself for the worst. A few seconds later, her eyes widened as soon as she got her answer.

"She's too short for me."

The headmaster finally arrived inside his office but Ana didn't move. She was too shocked. _Short? Who is short?_ Ana thought. She listened to the headmaster's hour long ranting and punishment.

Short, huh?

She'll show Christian short.

~HH~

The punishment was community service and Christian thought that it was too petty for a punishment. Luke and Boyce were happy but Christian wanted to be kicked out of the school or to be suspended. He didn't even know why he was still studying. For someone like him, hope was not found. When he envisioned his future, it didn't include the feeling of happiness anymore.

For someone like him, happiness has become nothing but a foreign feeling.

"Why do I feel like we are some sort of prisoners?" Luke was confused since the three of them were wearing orange jumpsuits. Christian and Boyce just ignored him and started cleaning the school field and by cleaning, it meant the three boys were picking up scattered dry leaves. It's autumn and they're everywhere. Luke complained the whole time but Christian wanted this to be done.

They were doing fine until . . . "Hello boys!"

The three boys froze to the sight before them. It was no other than Anastasia Steele wearing the same orange pantsuit and a white shawl. Christian eyed her from head to foot and his eyes widened when he saw her wearing five inches heels. They were red and obviously a mismatch to her jumpsuit.

Boyce was unfriendly, "Last time I checked you weren't drinking with us."

Ana rolled her eyes, "I am a good student so I'm gonna clean with you three."

Christian suddenly raged because of the interaction so he said, "Can you two quit flirting now? Can we get this over with? I need your cooperation!"

Ana smirked at that, "You're jealous, huh?"

He rolled his eyes in response.

"So uhm . . . do I look tall to you now?"

"What the fuck?" Christian immediately realized what's this all about. Ana heard the discussion inside the headmaster's office and she heard that he thought she was too short. Christian gulped, completely feeling guilty about the lie he spoke. Before he even gets to explain, Ana began picking up the dried leaves.

The whole community service was a torture and it shouldn't have been. Christian was pained not because of the scorching heat of the sun but because of the fourteen year old girl who was struggling to pick up dried leaves because of the five inches heels she was wearing. She didn't know but Christian noticed that every move she made was like a pose to every frame in a photo shoot. She was purposely trying to look tall. She elongated her legs and raised her neck higher. Christian thought it was cruel of him.

He cared too much for her—too much that it could kill him.

~HH~

The five hour-long community service was over. Christian and Ana were left in the middle of the school field by Luke and Boyce. The two fourteen year olds face each other level to level, since Ana was taller than usual. Christian decided that it was enough. He knelt down the ground and got a hold of her red heels.

"Christian, what are you doing?"

"Take it off. I've seen how many times you stumbled while cleaning. Take it off."

With a scowl, she let Christian take the shoes off and as he saw that parts of her feet were swollen and the other bleeding, he threw the shoes away with a loud curse. Ana flinched and thought that it was too pathetic of her.

He stood up again and interrogated, "Did you hear me yesterday?"

"Yes, I heard you."

He was getting frustrated. His fingers raked through his copper hair when he disappointingly told her, "Ana, why? Don't you get it? We cannot be together! I know that we've shared moments before but this is becoming out of hand! Ana, stay away from me please."

Her face hardened, "Why should I?"

"Ana, I've made a lot of mistakes."

"I've already forgiven you," she rebutted.

"I smoke and I drink."

"We could end that."

She won't give up, will she? He tried to scare her away again, "I don't have a bright future."

"You already have and that's me."

Christian's heart soared at that but he tried his best to deny it. "Ana, will you please stop this?"

Her face tough and it's almost like that challenge was the other way around. She was challenging him now since no matter how many flaws he enumerates, she'll disregard it.

Again she asked in the same calm but stoic manner, "Why should I?"

"Clinging to me will be like clinging into a cactus. You'll get hurt Ana."

She said the words that made his heartbeat undeniable, "Christian . . . perhaps you're the only cactus I see in this desert."

The two of them stared at each other and Christian was breathless. Ana lifted her head high, not embarrassed of all the things she did to express how much she loved him. Then she explained it further:

"Christian, I have liked you for a long time because the signs were there. When I was young, I was fascinated by Dorothy and how she got to Oz. I told myself that I should have a man who could take me to Oz. That was impossible but you've made it real. Christian . . . the first time I saw you, I thought that your grey eyes were the cyclone and I was Dorothy who went to Oz. The second sign was that we shared the same birthday and that's rare, right? The universe must be telling us something. Since then, I've only wished for you."

He weakly argued, "Ana, signs are—"

"And as we grew up, I saw how beautifully lost you are. You've shown me strength, Christian. I know that you have a story you are not ready to share to anyone yet but Christian, I know you'll come around someday. I've seen the way you smile and the way you stare outside the window of the classroom and I thought how unfair it is for someone like you to be this beautiful."

"Ana—"

"Christian, I love you . . . sign or no sign."

 _That's it!_ Christian thought as he enclosed the space between them. Sandwiched between the yellow sky and its reflection on the field, Christian took her shawl to cover her face—to cover the parts of her that force a channel of unwanted flashbacks and horrific footages of his old self, revealing only her lips for him to press his against it.

He kissed her now and the whole world stopped.

He wanted to tell her but he chose to keep it to himself, "I love you too, Ana. Sign or no sign."

 **A/N: Thank you so much for following this story. Merry Christmas everybody! Please do leave a review.**


	5. Grace

**A/N: Below**

 **E**

Les Miserables' song coming out of Grace's earphones, invaded the tunnel of her ears then it reached the light in her brain when Jean Valjean asked himself in his melancholic song, "Who am I? 24601." Grace had always loved Broadway Musicals ever since she was a child. If she didn't become a doctor then she would've been an actress on Broadway, maybe even playing Fantine.

The lines repeated and Grace can't help but think of Christian as Jean Valjean continued to ask of his identity. Based on her son's actuations, he's lost. Maybe Christian wondered why many children all around the world were always about toy cars and bodyguards. Maybe Christian thought that it was unfair for him to have lived a life so miserable that he himself thought that he didn't deserve moving on. Maybe Christian thought he was a sad song.

"Who am I?" If Christian asked.

Grace knew. She knew everything.

 _ **June 18, 1990**_

 _It was two in the morning and Grace couldn't deny that she was exhausted. She twisted her scrubs in the same way her heart felt twisted by one red line. She just came out of the bathroom and her hopes were buried long before she even knew what she was expecting. She and Carrick have been trying to have children for three years now but somehow they weren't given the blessing in a form of a child._

 _Grace ambled towards her office when an unusual scenario grasped her attention. She looked at the nursery and there was Rhian, her best friend. Rhian, like her, wanted to be a mother but she had it real worse. She was able to get pregnant and in four pregnancies? All stillborn. Grace swore that her best friend vowed to never hold a baby anymore. Why was she holding one?_

" _Rhian? Are you okay?"_

 _Her best friend responded as if Grace just woke her up from a daydream. Rhian was an OB/GYN who later hated babies since she wasn't granted to have a living one. Right now Grace was flabbergasted as she carried a baby girl in her unusually skinny arms. Her eyes indicate that she was sleepless and that she hasn't been fine. How could she be fine?_

" _Why won't I be okay?" Rhian barely whispered._

" _It's because—"_

 _All of a sudden, she shouted causing all the babies to wail in synchronization, "Don't you ever try to blame this on me, Grace! Are you going to be like my husband?! Are you going to blame me for the death of my children?! I don't need it, Grace! I don't need it!"_

 _For a moment, Grace feared for her best friend. Her veins were visible on her neck, as if they were route line of a map on the way to madness. Her eyes were as red as blood and nerves' shaking like the way her life was moving as of the moment. The nurses helped to quiet the babies and Grace did too. Rhian just stood there while holding the baby for a few seconds before placing him to his own comfortable nursing bed._

 _Like the patient person she was, Grace comforted, "Rhian, I will never think of you that way again, okay?"_

 _Rhian slowly nodded and that was Grace's cue to start a rather light topic._

" _Who was that baby you're holding?"_

" _It was a baby boy from a very poor girl."_

" _Oh! How about Karla? I heard my friend gave birth today. Where's her son?"_

 _Rhian shook her head, "She has a girl."_

" _A girl?"_

 _Rhian refused to speak anymore. For a second, Grace had the instinct to never let the topic go but medically speaking, it's very possible to have the gender of your baby predicted wrongly. And speaking of babies, Grace's thoughts went back on the negative line she met today._

 _ **October 5, 1992**_

 _Love did spring between Grace and Carrick as what she feared of never happened. Carrick loved her despite her inability to give him children. Grace then accepted her fate and decided that she was made to save other children's lives beyond being a paediatrician. She and Carrick adopted Elliott and they have never been happier._

 _She was glad to have met someone who did not only stay with her through thick and thin, but through the thickest and thinnest._

 _However, unlike her, Rhian refused to adopt. Her husband, Dr. Flynn begged her to try adoption but she claimed that she could still get pregnant. Following the deaths of her children, she had two pregnancies and they all led to miscarriages. Dr. Flynn was in Canada that time for a conference and he went home only to see his wife's wrist cut thoroughly with a blade._

 _Grace cried. Grace cried for weeks._

 _Rhian left letters to each of the people she considered the most important in her life. Grace got Rhian's letter addressed to her but what she expected to be butterflies and feelings and daisies and loss and withering, turned into a storm that made Grace fearful._

 _ **Grace,**_

 _ **I have loved you like my sister. Ever since medical school, you've been there for me. Thank you for all the times. I am sorry to have lived this way. Don't you ever feel sympathy for me! I don't deserve your pity. It's not only because I've lost all my children but because I ruined people's lives.**_

 _ **Grace, you have the right to be disgusted of me.**_

 _ **Remember June 18, 1990? My husband and I got into a huge fight. He was insisting adoption, probably to make me feel like I am the most incapable wife on earth. Grace, what I am trying to say is I did the most horrible thing a doctor and human being could ever do.**_

 _ **A young girl named Ella gave birth, almost the same time as Karla did. I was able to talk to Ella while she was on labor and all she ever wished for was to switch her child with someone. She didn't know how to escape the life she's been living and it's the only way she can imagine a better life for her daughter. Yes, Grace, I switched her daughter with Karla's son. Ana is not Harrison and Karla's child. I ruined lives, Grace. I did.**_

 _ **Each night I have a nightmare about their real son and he was crying. Grace, please fix this for me. I've never asked you anything before so just fix this.**_

Present

Grace's heartstring tugged at the letter that changed her outlook towards herself. She was determined to set things right and give Karla back the son she never knew she lost. But one look at Christian when she found him and Grace instantly knew that he was a child of hers to be taken good care of. She'll never give up on Christian and most likely, she'll never give him back to Karla.

As fate had always been ill, her fourteen year old son's in love with Ana. Ana, of all people. Ana, who inherited her biological mother's face like mirror. Ana, who was supposed to experience all the suffering Christian did at such a young age. Ana, with a blood of a selfish mother and an unknown father who probably never knew about her. Ana, the one person who could love Christian so much that she could hurt him the most.

The song changed and Grace lowered down the volume, keeping the two earphones intact.

Grace vowed never to fear again yet she was still gridlocked with it.

She feared Carrick would leave her if he knew about this.

She feared her whole family's happiness' demise.

She feared that Christian might find out.

She feared that most of all, Christian and Anastasia were like earphones. One could function without the other, but something would still be missing—something wouldn't make sense. And a love like that was for soulmates.

She feared how the universe could be cruel to those two.

 **A/N: There you have it. This is why Grace is so scared for Christian and Ana to be together. No worries though because they were just switched at birth but not related. I hope you still keep reading after this though.**

 **Anyway, thank you so much for the follows and the uplifting reviews. Yes, Christian's really not lovable in this story but I am looking forward to the development of his character. Thank you so much.**

 **May I hear your thoughts?**

 **HotelHeart23**


	6. Chapter 5

**A/N: Below**

 **Chapter 5**

They're fifteen already but Leila haven't stopped. She was acting like an insane person in front of Christian's friends. They were rolling their eyes at her while she's trying to make Christian like her after all these years. The reason why they're keeping her in their table was because Luke was fascinated by her. He thought she was pretty and it was all messed up that he thought of her that way even while she's trying to make some moves on Christian.

"So Christian, I have a few celebrity questions for you."

"Why would I be interested in celebrities?" Christian asked before sipping the blue canned soda.

"Because you are going to be one someday! I mean look at your face! You sure are going to grace Hollywood with your presence someday! I can't help but imagine our future together. You are going to win an Oscar and you are going to thank me as your loving and supporting wife."

As soon as he heard the word "wife" from Leila, Christian uncontrollable sprinkled the soda from his mouth and they were thrown at Leila. She looked extremely shocked as the dews of the soda occupied the spaces of her face like brownish black acne. She was too shocked to speak so she just got her handkerchief to wipe it away from her face.

Christian, on the other hand, felt no remorse at all. He would never associate the word "wife" with Leila, out of all people. In fact, at age fifteen, Christian thought that he should never get married and that he should never have kids as well. He thought that the world was vile and a constant series of trainwrecks. Marrying someone would be like tying down a woman on a railroad with a rope, and bringing a child would make things all worse.

"As I was saying, I have a few celebrity questions for you," Leila's face was now clean.

"What are those questions?" Ana stood by Christian and he couldn't hide his smirk. Somehow he had gotten used to her lack of pride when it comes to him. Christian never got rid of his bad boy persona but when Ana was around, he was transformed into a boy with proper decorum. He knew how he felt about her but he chose not to focus on it, since they won't go anywhere in the future.

He never plans to tie the knot. He never plans to have kids.

What's the point of being involved to a girl? Or to rephrase that, what's the point of being involved with a girl whose face reminded you of the darkest parts of your past?

Leila rolled her eyes, "Ana Steele, what are you doing here? The celebrity question is only for Christian."

"We are a celebrity couple so just ask him even when I am around." It's quite terrifiying since whenever she's with him or for him, there was no single hint of fear.

"Just go away, Ana, okay? There's no place for you here." Leila absolutely referred to the lunch table when all five chairs have already been filled. Ana wasn't shaken though.

"There is always space for me, Leila." Then she sat on Christian's lap despite knowing that he might push her away. Leila looked furious and she had the urge to take Ana and pull her hair from her scalp. To Ana's luck, Christian wrapped his arms around her from behind and rested his chin on her shoulder. Ana tensed and Leila cried immediately.

She stormed off the cafeteria, leaving everyone in the whole vicinity confused. Ana relaxed in Christian's embrace.

"You can let me go now. She's out of our sight. The coast is cleared," Ana said.

"I just wanna stay like this for a while." In his mind, he added, "for my whole life."

Ana was speechless then.

Christian sighed in content, "This is getting comfortable."

"That's because you are the most comfortable chair ever."

He corrects her, "The most comfortable and handsome chair."

Ana chuckled and Christian did too. He kissed her cheek and Ana's skin turned beet red. They were giggling together and the other boys felt more awkward than ever. They cleared their throats and threw some fries at Christian, but were shaken when he glared at them.

Being herself, Ana didn't mind these kinds of actuations from Christian since they come unexpectedly and non-frequently. Christian became the illumination of traffic lights. He'd go red when he ignored her. He'd go yellow when he was unsure and he'd go green in times like these. She just let him show his affection since it was traffic most of the time.

Ana cleared her throat and asked him, "Will you go somewhere with me?"

"What?"

"I have somewhere to go. Give me a ride?"

He smirked, "I thought you weren't the type to skip classes."

Ana scowled at him and he just rolled his eyes. The two of them stood up and bid goodbye to Christian's squad before they went out of the school grounds. Ana was different today and Christian couldn't point his finger at it. After all the years of knowing her, Christian then knew that she was the type of person who'd never hide her feelings away. However it seemed like she was concealing it—it seemed like her feelings have been kept beneath what used to be a transparent surface.

"Are you okay?" Christian asked.

She nodded quickly, gave him another smile when he placed the helmet on her head.

"You sure?" Christian hoped she'd say something but all she gave was a guarded smile.

Ana was never guarded. It was alarming.

He decided not to push though, "Where to, Miss Steele?"

"Can you take me to Wendell's?"

"The bakeshop?"

"Yeah."

The bicycle has now turned into a motorcycle. Ana sat right behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist. The sun in Washington was scorching but she felt like they were flames on wheels that moment. Since she was so pressed closely against him, Christian could feel her heart beat faster than usual. He knew he was listening to his favourite song then. She was looking at everywhere in the city and Christian knew something was up.

They've arrived at Wendell's and Ana bought a chocolate cake. She then instructed that they're going to M-Corp and Christian tensed at that. He didn't want her to feel more uncomfortable so he just did what she told him. He gave her a ride all the way to M-Corp despite how far it was. They stopped by two gasoline stations before they've finally arrived to their destination.

Christian took the helmet off her head and Ana gave him the strongest smile she can ever give at the moment. They've entered the building and Christian's heart was torned when Ana wasn't granted to get inside Harrison Montgomery's office since she wasn't an important client.

The two then decided to sit down the waiting area. Silence filled the air and Christian wanted nothing more but to console her. Ana was a girl who said tons of words but when she's silent, she was screaming a million words. Christian put his hand right above hers and Ana intertwined her fingers between the spaces of his, like how clouds perfectly fit the blue clouds.

"Ana . . ."

She replied, "You knew I was a Montgomery, right?"

"Yes."

Christian was never one to gossip but there were words that that ears didn't have the ability to un-hear. Ana's the daughter of Harrison and Karla Montgomery. They were expecting a boy when Karla was pregnant and when the baby showed up to be a girl, Harrison didn't mind. He was disturbed when Ana grew older though. He noticed that she didn't look like either of them and Karla tried to rationalize it. Harrison secretly put Ana for a DNA test and when it came out negative, he accused Karla of cheating on him. He took Ana's last name away from her, turning her into an illegitimate child. As part of the elite, it was a condescending move. Karla was impoverished so she had no choice but to marry Ray, a wealthy businessman who took Harrison's place as Ana's father.

Ana randomly blurted out, "I am scared."

Christian held her hand tighter then comforted her, "Don't be. I am here."

She was surprised by how tender his voice sounded like. She then spoke, "Mom never cheated on him. If I show up to be aloof in front of him then that would indicate that everything's true. Christian, he is my father. I believe in that. The DNA test messed up because there's no chance Mom would ever cheat on him."

He didn't know what else to say so he just held her hand so tight.

One hour . . . Two hours . . . Three . . . Four . . . until they saw who they're looking for.

"Stay here," Ana almost ran out of breath when she saw Harrison step out along with his three bodyguards and a bunch of clients. They were showing that plastic businessman smiles with each other. From afar, Christian couldn't really stare at Harrison's features. He just looked at Ana the whole time though.

He saw how everyone froze when she stood before him.

She saw how she presented the expensive chocolate cake.

He saw how her hands shook.

He saw Harrison leaning in to whisper something to her before tossing the cake away until it reached the floor.

Just like that, they left.

Christian immediately ran towards Ana who was now kneeling before the crushed chocolate cake. She was openly crying in front of everybody. He wrapped his arms around her and whispered in pain, "Ana, it's okay. Ana, let's go now, okay?"

She shook her head again and again as she cried. She even tried to fix the cake but Christian took a grip in her wrists, forcing her not to completely eliminate her pride this way. With everybody's judgmental gaze and harsh opinions, Christian didn't care about anything else. He wanted nothing more but to take Ana away from the place.

What Christian didn't know was that Harrison Montgomery was staring at him from afar, completely intrigued—completely flabbergasted by the instant connection he felt with the young boy.

~HH~

He gave her a ride back home and the whole time she buried her face against his back. She was quiet and Christian thought that maybe the crying stopped. The road was empty so the wind took the chance to inhabit it. Ana's hair danced with the air while Christian's eyes wandered around the place.

Then the back of his shirt was wet.

It wasn't even raining.

 **A/N: Hello! Thank you for reading my latest chapter. I love you guys for all the follows, favorites, reviews, and author alerts. You guys always make my day. That twist was something I had in mind since I started this story.**

 **What do you think of this new chapter? Thoughts? Thanks!**

 **~ hotelheart23**


	7. Chapter 6

**A/N: Below**

 **Chapter 6**

Christian's motorcycle ran out gasoline, like Ana's eyes that ran out of tears.

The two fifteen year olds were staying in a cheap motel room as the moon shared its spotlight through the window. Ana may not be crying but she was staring at nothing, and that's what makes it worse. There was only one vacant room and it had one bed. Christian insisted to sleep on the broken couch while Ana contemplated on the bed.

The fifteen year old boy stared at the young girl who sat on the plaid sheets of the bed. He called out her name tenderly, "Ana?"

She didn't say anything but her blue eyes just darted towards his. He was taken aback as if the world poured down the heaviest blue of rainclouds. She was looking lifeless and for a second, she wasn't his Ana. Instinctively, Christian stood from the couch to sit down right next to her. He took a hold of her hand and usually she would grasp it so tightly but now she was motionless.

"Ana, it's okay."

She shook her head again and again and her unusually rough voice argued, "No, everything is not okay, Christian."

"Ana—"

"I'm tired, Christian." Her blue eyes met his and they were crystalized with moist. She was about to cry again and the truth was that Christian knew that she's not physically tired. Fear crept all over Christian's veins as he was slowly losing the once bright girl he thought he couldn't handle. He was stunned by the revelation that it was the darkness in her he couldn't handle and not this illuminating light.

She spoke, "I am tired of all aspects in my life, Christian. I try so hard to show people my worth but they just can't. If it weren't for my mother and Raymond Steele, I would think that no one really does love me. Did you see what my father did, Christian? He embarrassed me of all people. Did you know what he whispered to me before he plunged the cake right on the floor?"

Christian feared to know.

"It's been a long time since we've seen each other, whore's daughter."

Christian didn't know how to feel anymore, but it was evident that he shared Ana's paint. He couldn't even believe his own ears. If he were Ana, he would have been drunk all night and he would have cursed Harrison Montgomery all across town. If he had been his father, he would have had it worse than Ana.

She removed her hand from Christian's hands and suddenly his hand felt like an empty jar. She wasn't able to look at him when she said, "I am tired of showing him how much I love him then getting rejected in return," this time she looked at him with such sad eyes when she added, "I am tired of showing you how much I love you and I'm just getting mixed signals in return."

Christian was breathless and the fear was exploding inside him.

"I know I look crazy just trying to get you to like me and that everyone in school thinks how pathetic I am. I have loved you since day one, Christian and I haven't given up. Christian, I think it's time for me to give up now. I thought you loved me back but right now I don't know anymore. Maybe it was nothing but an illusion. Christian, I need to go now and maybe after this; you'll finally be free without a blue eyed girl annoying you."

She stood up and Christian instantly grabbed her wrist as if his life depended on it. He wasn't looking at her as he was still processing what she was trying to say. He couldn't even believe that she would say goodbye to him.

He whispered, "Don't leave me."

Ana shook her head, "Christian, I think it's time for me to go. I don't know how things will work out anymore and maybe I need to let you like someone else and . . ." she stopped when he was facing her and there were tears in his eyes.

Just like that, all the thoughts of doubts and goodbyes were thrown out the window when she saw the boy she loves was vulnerable as he sat on the bed. The mystery about love was that you could bear your weight more than you bear your other half's. He was crying like a child and those sounds were enough to weaken her legs. Her knees were pressed against the floor as her thumbs met his tears. In that moment, Christian tasted something bittersweet.

He was back to his younger self begging Ella not to leave him and give him something to eat. He was back to the needful him. He was back to needing someone. He was back to being weak. He didn't care for a moment. All he needed was Ana not to leave him. He cried, "Please don't leave me, Ana. Please don't say goodbye." He sniffled in between his cracked voice and Ana pressed her forehead against his.

"I'm sorry, Christian. I'm sorry so please don't cry anymore and—"

He interrupted, "I love you, Ana."

She leaned back, completely shocked of the revelation.

"I loved you for a long time, Ana. You don't know how much I love you and how hard it is to restrain myself from holding hands with you or kissing you. You don't know how it was so difficult for me."

This time Ana sat right next to him and while her fingers were tracing the outline of his face, she whispered, "I love you too, Christian. I love you too and you know how much. I believe the past decade has told you the entire truth of how I feel about you. Why stop yourself? Why?"

Christian then took off his shirt and Ana felt suffocation when she saw the scars on his chest. She shut her eyes as she shared his pain. She even shed tears as she saw how horrible they looked.

 _Then he told her everything. He told her how he had a rough start in this world. He told her how he was abused. He told her . . . how she looked like her and how it was almost impossible to stand it._

There was silence encompassing between the two of them and Ana nodded in complete understanding, "That's why you cover my face when we kiss and when you hug me, you hug me from behind?"

He was just as pained as she was, "Ana—"

She was crying too and her strong voice was shaking, "I definitely understand you, Christian. If you won't take me then it's okay. I do understand you. If we could just turn back time and if it were possible, I would be the one to take the pain for you. You don't know how I want to kill someone right now. They've hurt you so much . . . and I just want to kill them." The way her fingers twisted the sheets indicated her anger.

Christian then took the time to fully see who she really was. She was the person who got angry when somebody would inflict pain on him. She was the person who'd go to war just for the sake of his love for him. She was the girl who'd choose him over anything else. The brightness? He loved it. He loved it just as much as the shadows in the brightness. He loved her and there's no turning back now.

"You are not her."

She raised her brow.

"You are not Ella."

Then the impossible happened when Christian took her hand and pressed her palm against the scars on his chest. For the first time, somebody touched the most damaged part of him, but it felt like healing. In that moment, he realized that both of them did have scars of their own and it was proof of how their past was so real. Regardless of all the pain, they had their hospital hearts to heal each other.

"I love you, Ana. I love you so much. I am so sorry for all the times I compared you to Ella just because you look so much like her. I love you and can you give me one last chance?"

She didn't waste a single second. She pressed her lips against his so intense that they were crashing like two trains forming fire. Their lips moved in sync before Christian's tongue asked for entrance. Ana let him in and they enjoyed the taste of each other. They tasted like first love, rain dances, and splendid words. She wrapped her arms around his neck while he around her waist.

Sooner than later they stopped kissing and lied down the bed to face each other.

Christian's mood lifted when she was finally smiling and blushing. She asked him, "Is this real?"

His light peck reminded her of how tangible the event was. Then he whispered, "You're exhausted, _Love_. Sleep now."

She loved how he called her 'Love'. She shook her head, "I am sleepy but I am having a hard time sleeping. Just show me your eyes and they can calm me down."

He was transported back to the time when they were just fourteen and Ana confessed her thoughts when he first saw his eyes. Right now she was staring at him as if his grey eyes were the cyclone from Kansas to Oz so he decided to sing her a lullaby.

Ana's eyes slowly closed when she heard him sing, " _Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high, there's a land that I heard of once in a lullaby. Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue. And the dreams that you dare to dream come true."_

It didn't take long before Christian fell asleep. Side to side, they shared their souls. Their clothes on but they were as naked as ever. They were vulnerable as hands held to transfuse their nightmares while they were asleep, only to be turned into the sweetest dreams. They were two dancing flame of souls in the middle of the night, enough to light up the street.

It was intimacy.

 **A/N: Thank you for the follows, favorites, and reviews! Thank you for the private messages as well! You guys are so appreciated. Can you tell me what you think about this chapter? And . . . Elena appears next.**

 **Hotelheart23**


	8. Chapter 7

**A/N: Below**

 **Chapter 7**

The lawn screamed green ink especially when the yellow light flirted with it. Fifteen year old Christian was cutting leaves, completely wary of the gawking stare Elena Lincoln was giving from the view of her lanai. She thought he was handsome and Christian's getting uncomfortable.

Why was he here? He was being punished by Grace for causing such chaos. It turned out that Karla almost had a heart attack believing that she lost Ana. When the two teenagers came home together hand in hand, Carrick and Grace lost it. They thought of how reckless Christian was that he inflicted pain on a mother. What made his parents even more furious was that they found out Christian had fake ID's that got him through drinking and purchasing beverages. He also bought fake documents so he could be able to drive his motorcycle. To add up, he used them to check into the motel and Carrick thought it was too much.

He remembered it as clear as the glasses Grace wore while she studied.

" _Mom, I am really sorry. I assure you that nothing went bad. We just fell asleep in a hotel room since I ran out of gas. It won't happen again." Ever since he stepped into puberty, Grace's relationship with Christian has turned into a series of apologies and broken promises. She grew so disappointed of how hard headed Christian was._

" _Christian, didn't I warn you before? I told you to stay away from Ana Steele because I know nothing good can ever come out of your relationship," Her voice signified the calm before the storm._

 _Of course, he wouldn't stay defenceless. "Mom, can you please stop talking like that? Stop acting like you are an expert with relationships! I am so tired of you overreacting each time a moment passes between Ana and me! Mom, I am getting so sick of it so can you just please for once shut your mouth up?"_

 _She was getting angry, "Christian, are you with her now? What's gotten you so brave to fight back? You think you'll last?"_

 _He insultingly backlashed, "Shut the fuck up, Grace! Shut the fuck up!"_

 _The angry mother threw the glass she was holding right on the mahogany table and the sound of its shattering wasn't enough to make Christian flinch. He was standing up for something and Grace never liked it when he did that. She referred he stayed as the little boy who thought of her as the perfect mother._

" _That's it! Community service for Elena Lincoln tomorrow! I am done, Christian! You must be punished!"_

" _Yeah, yeah, I will just go there. It's not like it's that scary or anything. Now let me leave the room because I have another mother to apologize to." When he exited the four walls of the room, Grace crumbled down to her knees. She felt like she was losing her family piece by piece._

 _~ HH~_

 _The other mother Christian needed to apologize to was Karla. The four-time divorcee sat on the wooden bench of the Grey garden while Ana was a few meters away, talking to someone over the phone. Karla was lost in thought and staring at her now, she didn't look anything like Ana. Her copper hair failed to glow before sunrise but it was more than enough for Christian to think that she looked kind._

 _He sat right next to her and started, "Karla, I am sorry for taking Ana home this late. We didn't keep track of the time and—"_

" _Christian, you don't have to explain anything. If there's anything I could say to you is that I'd like to thank you for never leaving my daughter's side when she was the most vulnerable. Harrison does that to her and—" Karla's voice cracked so she just stopped speaking. She took a deep breath before recomposing herself. She straightened her back and looked at Christian._

 _She offered, "Would you like to have onion rings?"_

 _The way she asked Christian made him nod with no pretentions. He took one onion ring and ate it. He didn't even have the time to feel shy around Ana's mother. He felt like he could say anything to her and her green eyes would tell him that she won't judge him no matter what. Something about her just reminded Christian of the scent of home and he never understood why._

 _Karla sighed, "Ana is my life, Christian. She's my daughter and I never cheated on the man I loved so deeply. I loved Harrison, Christian and I would never doubt Ana's existence. I will never ever accept the thought that everyone thought I cheated on him. Harrison and I were a song, but something went wrong in the middle and the song finished in the ugliest way."_

 _He pressed his hand on her back and comforted, "I salute you, Karla. You are so strong."_

 _She gazed at him and almost cried, "No one has said that to me in years."_

 _All Christian gave her was a smile. It was a comfort Christian didn't see coming._

 _Karla then laughed, "Why did I just say that to you? It's the first time we really talked."_

 _Christian thought that maybe she felt the same comfort with him._

 _It was the very first time he realized that he never really knew Karla aside from the fact that she got married four times to provide for Ana, and that he saw her drinking champagne in various charity balls. It never sank into him that much like her drink, she was champagne. Her life involved fancy dinner halls and she was trapped inside a glass fake people in expensive dresses would take hold. Champagne escaped but all she made was a mess._

In the current situation, Christian was startled when he felt Elena linger behind him. He turned around only to face the older woman with an indecipherable expression. He gulped, "Mrs. Lincoln, is there something wrong with the way I am cleaning your lawn?"

He got an unexpected response when Elena's hands touched his cheek in a manner that formed shockwaves in Christian's ears. He was too stunned to speak so she took the time to press her lips hard against his. Christian's eyes were open the whole time, like the escape door he imagined in his mind. It was completely wrong: the intensity of her lips against his and how she clung unto him as if he were too precious to be lost.

She pulled away and Christian was too shocked. His supposedly blank mind drifted back to Ana and how he felt disgusted of himself just now. He was about to lose it. It's too crazy to think that one of his mother's closest friends would do such a horrendous action towards him. What would Ana think of it? Christian knew that she would be so angry.

Elena seductively asked him, "Since you're here for a punishment then you might as well know how I define that word." She then forcefully took his wrist and let him inside her mansion. Down below, in what people thought would be a basement, was a room Elena had secret keys.

She opened the room and Christian's mouth dropped on the floor. He was a mixture between disgust and fear. The room was red like apples Christian sees during summertime. There were objects he saw for the first time in his life. There was a bed in the middle and Christian had a clue on what's this all about.

"You'd make a fine student, Christian. I'd like to teach you the art of sado-masochism. I'd like you to know that pain and pleasure aren't that different at all. I'll be your Dom and you'll be my Sub. Consider it, Christian. It will be made legal as soon as you sign a contract." She was overconfident with heels clinking on to the wooden floor like drums in a seducing song and fingers tracing Christian's youthful arms like she's simply touching the cover of her potential erotic book.

All Christian replied was, "You're insane" before he ran away.

"Consider it!" Elena's voice gradually turned faint as distance separated them.

~HH~

"We're making the situation worse when we tell my mother all about this! Ana, come on! Stop!" Christian instantly regretted telling his girlfriend about the whole Elena incident. When he hesitantly told her, she didn't utter a single word but just immediately started to march to the Grey mansion. She was a scorned girlfriend and she'll do whatever it takes to make Elena pay the price.

"Love, please—" Christian wasn't able to finish when he was forcefully thrown to the side of the hallway. He didn't even know that his girlfriend can be physically strong like that. The elegant mahogany door was opened and a disturbed Grace Trevelyan-Grey was shown. Christian braced himself for her reaction.

Ana reported, "Grace! Don't you know what your fucking bitch of a friend did to my boyfriend?! She kissed him! Do you understand me? She kissed Christian and for fuck's sake, offered him to be her sex slave! Grace, I cannot bear this anymore! We must do something!"

To Christian's surprise, Grace nodded with a tensed and betrayed voice, "I got the pictures. Let's go, Ana."

Grace ran and grabbed Ana by the arm and Christian followed them completely clueless about the photos Grace was holding. He took it from his mother's grasp and there were a dozen of them, all showing the worst things Elena did just this morning. The fifteen year old was clueless while he followed his girlfriend and mother all the way to the car.

Grace then held her son's hand, "Are you okay, my son?"

Christian nodded, still confused, while Ana was so angry she can't even slouch her back.

~HH~

When they've finally arrived in Elena's mansion, she was putting on her friendly mask but Ana was nowhere near scared. Christian just stood behind the two men, skin still covered by the goosebumps when he saw the sight of a woman older yet attracted to him. Ana wasted no time.

When Elena greeted, "Good evening! What a surprise visit!" in a suave voice, Ana grabbed the cream vase from the left side of the door and threw it to the ground.

Christian flinched and he suddenly had the urge to protect his girl.

Ana screamed, "You paedophile! How dare you kiss my boyfriend and try to molest him!"

"What?" Elena gazed at Christian, eyes torn with betrayal.

"You are the whore and not my mother! First my father and now my Christian?! What the fuck is wrong with you?!"

Elena laughed, "Grace, this bastard child is acting crazy. Perhaps she should have a taste of punishment." Christian immediately ran to Ana's side as soon as he saw that Elena was about to slap her but he was immediately frozen when Ana moved Elena's hand out of the way and she kicked her gut painful enough for her to fall down the marbled floor.

It was a serious moment but Christian couldn't help but chuckle. He thought how Ana looked so cute fighting back. She was like a kitten frowning.

Elena cried, "Grace, why are you just standing there?"

The usually warm woman turned cold, "I'm disappointed in you." She threw the pictures down to Elena like petals falling off a woman in white, not for a wedding but for a funeral. She dialled the police's number.

Christian then wrapped his arms around the raging Ana, kissing the top of her head repetitively before the tension in her body gradually slows down. "That's my girl," Christian whispered, no regrets now that he told her about the incident.

He realized she has always been his savior.

~HH~

The police arrived and Grace showed the pure rage of a mother as she had completely forgotten her friendship with Elena. Lawyers from Carrick's law firm arrived as well and that's when Ana decided that the conflict was fully taken care of. Grace could handle this and Ana trusted it.

The apartment she and Karla lived in wasn't that far so Christian walked her home. Their fingers intertwine once more and they were in the middle of the carless road with no streetlights on. They were two silhouettes witnessed by the moon and words weren't spoken. In a random moment, Ana froze and looked at Christian.

She let go of his hand only to use it to wipe his lips again and again. She did it too much that Christian thought her hand was sandpaper. The way her thumb would graze against his lip got more intense by the second. He grabbed her wrist and rolled his eyes, "Ana, what is this about?"

"She kissed you! I am wiping it away!"

He laughed and didn't think twice when he asked, "How did you get to be this cute?"

She scowled like the kitten face she was before using her other free hand to wipe his lips. Again, Christian gripped it too and gave her a small kiss on the lips.

"Ana, Love, how did you learn how to fight like that? That got me . . . intimidated."

She was still angry, a letter V formed by her arching brows. Christian kissed it again and again while she answered, "I had karate lessons when I was seven years old, right after you were thrown pebbles at by those nine year olds. I am surprised that I still remember them."

Christian pulled back, completely surprised of what she told him. He let go of her wrists and he loved how she didn't look angry now. There was a speedy transition between anger and shyness and that's just one of the things he loves about Ana. Her emotions were showing how real of a human being she was. Everything about her was authenticity and Christian felt like the lucky one to have her.

With a bite in her lip, she explained clearly and not at the same time, "I didn't want anyone else to hurt you so . . ."

"You learned karate for me?" Christian smiled.

Ana rolled her eyes, "Don't try to change the main topic—"

Christian gave her a small kiss.

Yet she continued ranting, "because I am still angry about that bitch troll and—"

Another kiss.

She stuttered this time, "And I am g-gonna kill her!"

Christian kissed her deeply this time and she wrapped her arms around him, the scandal with Elena completely forgotten.

Their tongues danced together and the intensity made the stars cover their eyes in bashfulness. In the middle of the road, two fifteen year olds felt like they were setting fires every streetlight and they could swerve any incoming cars—any incoming obstacles.

 _After all, will there be any other obstacles aside from this?_

The two of them were confident.

~HH~

In nights like this, Carrick would read a book about children and how they react to traumatizing events. He read that if a child showed violence towards animals then that meant that they have the tendency to kill humans when they grow old. If Carrick weren't a corporate lawyer, he would be a family lawyer. He never expected himself to be a man who would adopt but the way he loved Grace . . .

It made him think that a person did have a box of his own and that he had plans with himself. Then when love came in the form of Grace, he realized that the person he loves lives in another boxes and since he wants to be with her then their boxes have to merge. There he saw the infinite possibilities when he had shared boxes.

That possibility was becoming an adoptive father to three children and he didn't have any regrets.

Speaking of the three children, someone knocked on the door and Carrick was surprised.

"Christian! Son, what are you doing here?"

The copper haired and grey eyed boy's tongue played with the roofs and walls of his mouth when he asked, "Dad, I need help."

"What is it, son?"

"Any ideas for a first date?"

In that moment, he really was a father.

 **A/N: I won't get to update tomorrow so I decided to publish this one chapter. To be honest, I am overwhelmed right now. I just received more favorites, more reviews, and more private messages. What got me elated was that my follows in just ten hours went from 69 to 101. I really loved the way you loved the moment last chapter. Thank you!**

 **May I hear your thoughts about this one chapter?**

 **I'll hear from you in two days-time.**

 **P.S. I did a cover image for this story too. Check it out.**

 **Hotelheart23**


	9. Chapter 8

**A/N: Below.**

 **Chapter 8**

"Wow!" Christian mouthed the moment he saw his girl step out of the silver car. He was dressed like himself: shirt, jeans, leather jacket, and boots (except for the ripped parts). Christian insisted he'd look appropriate and true-to-himself for their first date. The hands of the clock ticked at the same pace Ana's feet took steps towards Christian. She was wearing flats and like him, there were no pretentions in her part.

"I honestly don't know why we're doing this," that was the first thing she said.

"Why?" Christian raised his brow then he added, "It's not like we do this every day and it's not like we're going somewhere over the top like what usual couples do."

Ana smiled, "Well, all I want is to sit somewhere with you and talk to you for hours and hours and never get to feel boredom at all. We could be anywhere, you know. As long as I'm with you then we could be anywhere."

Christian couldn't believe how lucky he was to have her. Every word she spoke was accompanied by butterflies and they just go straight to his stomach and up to his chest, like they've taken residence of it. Not only do they linger in his chest, but also to his brain. He'd always remember the words no matter how years may pass.

He reasoned out with a blooming smile, "You've spent years dealing with my crap and putting so much effort on us, so let me treat you specially."

"Really?" Ana smiled before she hooked arms with Christian all the way inside the wooden restaurant.

Christian wasn't kidding when he said he wanted to make her feel special. There were no other customers in the restaurant. In fact, there was only a single table in the middle of the room and two chairs with it. Everything was fancy, and a grey haired man was playing the violin, eyes elated upon seeing the young couple purely in love. He was a true gentleman when he pulled the chair for Ana and sooner than later, her skin transformed into red fabric.

"Why are you smiling to yourself, Love?" Christian asked her, despite having the idea of the reason behind the upward curve of her lips.

Inhaling deeply, the young girl answered dreamily, "It's just that I've imagined this moment since the day I learned that dates exist. Whenever I go to sleep, I would pretend that the black ceiling was the dark theatre room and I would project the film of our love story and the dates we'll go to. I just . . . can't believe it's real."

How was this possible? She was bewildered because the scenarios she mentally projected turned real and here he was, bewildered how _she's_ real—how someone like her existed. Christian used to think that he didn't deserve anything good in this world, as a son of a crackwhore and as a boy who acts like he's unworthy of his adoptive parents' love. But when he looked into her eyes, he realized how wrong he was. How could he ignore a divine gift since he was a child? How could he ignore true love on a silver platter?

Then he realized that his guard was down a hundred percent and inhibitions weren't allowed, not even the shadows of it. He was giving it his all, like what she had always done from the very beginning, even at the age of five.

He shared his thoughts, "You look beautiful tonight."

"Thank you, Chri-"

"Not just tonight but every day since I met you. You are more beautiful than you could ever imagine. The years passed by and I just fell deeper in love with you even when I couldn't admit it. I'll only say this once, so please listen."

She listened to his spontaneous poetry:

"I've always thought that I've held the clouds in my lungs and the constellation of scars on my chest, and I've got nowhere else to go, but you stood by me and you wore the galaxy for a dress and the satellites for your shoes. Each time you arched your brows, it reminded me like hilltops underneath the endless sky and each time you opened your mouth, Halley's Comet words would roll out your tongue. I could be anywhere when I'm with you, my Ana: eyes closed, lips shut, and gravity gone: I could be anywhere when I'm with the sun."

Ana felt her eyes tearing up. That was the confession she has long wanted to hear: a sweet devotion of sincerity. Those words weren't easily spoken especially with a boy in a leather jacket.

"I love you," she said with natural force.

"I love you too," he wasn't afraid anymore.

Silence secluded the two from the rest of the world. It was as if their eyes transpired the words they wanted to express to each other.

But then the waiter cleared his throat and the two were back to the world where they existed with billions of other people. The waiter with a clean moustache asked, "What's the order?"

Ana opened the menu book and speedily decided, "Spaghetti with meatballs."

Her boyfriend made a puking sound effect and Ana was concerned. "Are you okay, Christian?"

"It's just that . . . Leila tried to kiss me with it when we were twelve years old."

She reacted by slamming the menu book in full force and the waiter took one step backward. Christian smirked to himself then, "There goes my territorial girlfriend," he thought.

~HH~

The two then sat on the cemented bridge that overlooked the light of the street. Yes, they had fancy dinner but they were still just two teenagers. With canned sodas and chips, they watched the city lights spread its colours over the gloomy waters.

Ana randomly started, "The sky loves the sea and the sea loves the sky too."

"How?"

She smiled, "Because when the sky is dark, the sea is too, and when it's blue, the sea is too, and when it's crying, the waves crash too."

"Clever," he was impressed but he had another idea in mind, "But I think the sea loves the sky more because it sings for it. Just listen to the waves and you'll hear the sky's favourite song."

"Just because it sang for it doesn't mean he loves it more. I mean you sang for me but it doesn't mean you love me more than I love you."

Christian laughed, "We sound so cheesy."

"But you love it," Ana smiled before she pecked him on the lips. When she pulled away, she said, "You're the sea and I am your sky."

She then rested her head against his arms and thought of how perfect things were. There are fancy dates but nothing could ever compare to that rare moment when you could talk about anything to anyone. You could give objects feelings and you could just share your insane thoughts without being deemed as weird. Ana loved him not for the private dates and the money he had but she loved him for the moments—good or bad, and not all people can find a love like theirs.

Ana pulled back when Christian randomly spoke, "It's 11:59 pm. 60, 59, 58 . . ."

"Oh my gosh!" Ana knew what was up!

"3, 2, 1 . . . Happy Birthday, Ana!" He greeted her at the same time the fireworks became the crowd in the sky. Ana's eyes widened and all Christian did was stare back and forth. Upon splitting his time between the sights of both, he realized he was looking at the same image: Ana was a sky full of color. He could look between the two and it's still her.

It was her turn to gaze at him and she couldn't help but let the tears fall. It was very overwhelming. From his words to his actions, they all moved in sync. She grabbed him by his chin and pressed her lips against him hard. His lips fought back with the same intensity. They didn't know for how long but their breaths were taken away so Christian pulled back, leaving a trail of kisses on her flawless neck. She moaned and he had trouble breathing because of the sounds she was making.

When her lips found his ear, she whispered, "Take me, Christian."

He didn't need to be told twice.

~HH~

They were in a hotel room and as soon as the door was slammed close, Ana was pressed against the wall as Christian kissed her lips feverishly. He was so intense that Ana almost doubted if she can handle it. His hands found the zipper behind her charcoal dress and he brought it down, causing her back's exposure. Ana gasped when Christian twisted her in less than a second and kissed her back and sucked on it.

"Christian . . ." Ana moaned.

He wanted her moans to be louder. It sounded like music to his ears but the volume wasn't satisfying. He fully took off her dress followed by her bra and his palms found her breasts. She almost screamed when his thumbs played with it. He turned her around once more that he could lean down and nibbled both with his mouth and Ana was in so much pleasure. When she was almost screaming his name, he shut her lips with his and led her to be bed.

Ana lied down waiting for him to fully undress, while he knelt down the bed. The rhythm of her pants escalated Christian's excitement. He took off everything in front of her and Ana bravely thought that she could handle him despite his huge size. He moved closer, pulling the panties off of her legs.

"Ugh!" Ana suddenly moaned as Christian inserted one finger to her wet folds without warning. The sight of her this pleasured all because of him motivated him to make it all better. He added another finger and thrusted it again and again while Ana felt extreme pleasure. She was on top of the world until she came down from her high.

She could barely see him because of the pleasure. She knew he's a virgin because of the touch issues he had before but he was acting experienced. Ana then looked at the erotic sight when he licked her from his fingers.

Christian's cheeks reddened when he caught her staring, "I was curious."

That reminded her of how young they were. They both turned sixteen years old yet they're ready to physically give themselves to each other. Adults would disapprove when they'll know of this, but no adults know what they really have. Ana thought that love knows no age, and she made her little fantasy that their souls are not sixteen years old. Maybe in their past life in the thousands of years that passed, they met and did this too.

Christian nervously positioned himself and asked, "Are you sure?"

She strongly nodded.

Then he thrusted into her in one snap and Ana moaned in pain. Christian cursed, "Fuck," over and over again. He thrusted and thrusted while he whispered in her ears, "It will get better. It will get better." Ana felt so much pain but the sounds he released were enough to make her hold on. She wrapped her arms around him while he continued pushing into her.

Gradually, so gradually, the pain turned into pleasure and Ana moaned his name.

She can't even express how intense she felt.

In and out. In and out. In and out. They were close and that slowed Christian's pace.

Like the ocean continuously washing up the shore, Christian pushed and pulled in and out of her, their eyes never breaking contact. Then, Ana's hand reached out to his chest and her fingers formed an axis around the orbit of his scars. He was breathless but he didn't push her away. She kissed them, one by one and then she realized that she had scars too. He was the sea and she was the sky, so that meant the scars reflect each other.

Sooner than later, Ana came.

Christian followed.

Still inside of her, he pressed her body freely on top of hers and kissed her on the lips lightly, wordless and dauntless.

~HH~

"That wasn't bad, was it?" Christian was anxious and all Ana did was laugh. They were lying down on their stomachs, covered the Roman battleground of white sheets, faced each other in the afterglow of the bask sensation.

Ana broke their eye contact when she sat up and was able to conceal the soreness.

"What are you doing?" Christian sat so he could see what she was doing.

After she stood up from the bed, she grabbed her black dress from the door and got a small box from the pocket. Still nude, she sat on his lap and opened the velvet box. Christian faced a wristband with wooden grey beads. Ana placed it around his left wrist and explained, "If you look closely, the spirals on each wooden bead are cyclones. I guess you know why."

He wasn't sure how to respond. He was just staring at her so Ana leaned in to kiss his cheek and whispered, "Happy Birthday, Christian."

Christian finally moved and removed the barrier of the white blanket between the two of them. He grabbed both sides of her waist and guided her as she sank so low to him. Just like that, for the second time, they shared the same luminous universe.

 **A/N: Turns out my errands got cancelled and I was able to publish this. I need to say three things:**

 **Thank you so much to one of my readers who recommended me on Facebook. It MEANS SO MUCH to me and you've already given me the BEST HOLIDAY GIFT . I am not sure if you'll allow me to disclose your name since I'm not sure if you have the same username in Facebook or yeah . . . But thank you so much!**

 **Thank you for all your follows, PMS, feedbacks, favorites, and support!**

 **What do you think of this chapter?**

 **HotelHeart23**


	10. Harrison

**A/N: Below.**

 **HARRISON**

Three seconds. That's all it took to predict how the years of your life can be played out. Life is composed of three seconds that change who you are and who you will be.

Harrison Montgomery sat on his office, stared at the skyline with glass windows for its frames, as he contemplated about how he lived the past sixteen years of his life.

He knew he was a bitter man and he had lived his life consumed by tangible objects. When he lost love and faith in love at the age of twenty-four, his world turned into a wall full of cracks and no matter how billions of money would fill his bank account, the sun's rays still refused to go through the cracks.

Three seconds was all it took for him to psychedelically think that his son was still alive-one glance at Christian from last week when he saw him with Ana, and he doubted how his whole life had turned out. He even hired some men to watch on Christian and thankfully, they caught pictures of Elena slapping and kissing him. The photos stirred Harrison in a way that anger never felt the same. Anger was for the betrayal he felt for years, but this kind of anger had the unfamiliar companion of protectiveness.

Call him pathetic but he couldn't take it anymore. He hired one man to get a DNA sample from Christian and that man was the waiter on his date with Ana two nights ago. He got Christian's glass of champagne and all else was taken care of scientists. Now he was staring at the brown envelope in his right hand while the other hand travelled an onion ring in between the spaces of his fingers.

He recalled all those three seconds.

 _ **3 . . . 2 . . . 1**_

 _For a twenty one year old he has his own company, Harrison was indeed underdressed. He just wore a simple white t-shirt and faded jeans, and he laughed at how employees would pass by him like he's a lost man inside the thirty storied building. It was 1988 and M-Corp was rising to the top. Even though he grew up with tycoons for parents, Harrison wanted to be credited on his own._

 _There were days when he didn't feel like himself so he wanted to act like what normal people do. He ate at the pantry and as usual, she was there._

 _She had bright copper hair and meadow green eyes. He knew who she was for weeks now but this was the only time he had courage to speak to her. She manages one of the kiosks but that didn't mean anything to him._

" _Good morning! What's your order, Sir?"_

 _He smiled, "Anything as long as you eat with me."_

" _Huh?"_

" _I believe you're not deaf," he raised his brows and his grey eyes were exaggerated. He had tousled blonde hair and his shoulders were wide and arms so muscular. Karla couldn't deny he was beautiful._

 _She cleared her throat and asked with attitude, "Seriously, what's your order?"_

" _Eat with me."_

 _Karla ran out of patience and screamed, "You know what, dude?! I am calling security right now because I believe that you are leading to harassment and I don't let some random handsome guy harass me and—"_

" _Good morning, Mr. Montgomery!" One employee who passed by greeted Harrison and he nodded professionally in response. Karla was flushed and she couldn't say any word. They stared at each other for a long period of time before Harrison asked, "Shall we eat?"_

 _Karla nodded, completely conscious of the intrigued eyes around them._

 _They sat across each other on the plastic chairs and table and Harrison ate like he wasn't a CEO. Karla, on the other hand, was so scared. She knew she'd get negative responses because of this._

" _Why do you work here?" Harrison asked and of course, Karla expected how he thought her job was too small and that she would be nothing but a play thing to him. He was bored right now and he wanted to cause such a once in a lifetime scene._

" _Uhm . . . I am eighteen years old and I'll graduate high school in a couple of months. I don't have parents or anybody else so I am striving to get myself through college." He thought of how honourable it was of her to value education above anything else, while she thought of how he must be so disgusted of her._

 _Harrison responded by saying, "Oh I thought you're working here because of the random handsome guy."_

 _Karla was speechless for almost a minute and Harrison confidently smirked._

 _One second, two second, three second . . . he heard her wind chime laugh and he knew the wind took him elsewhere._

 _ **3 . . . 2 . . . 1**_

 _They've been together for a year now but it's the first time they admitted it to the public. There were headlines like, "A real life Cinderella story" or "A teenage gold digger on the loose" and Harrison was almost amazed by how Karla stood firm despite all the criticisms around her. Harrison thought that the more people know about love, the more they try to destroy it._

 _He was practically running as soon as his car stopped in front of his parents' company, M-Real Estate. He received information about Karla receiving invitation from his parents and he knew how bad it would be. He ran as soon as he got inside. He asked everybody but no one had any idea. He took the stairs then the elevator then found her in one of the conference rooms with Elena._

 _None of the two women felt his presence so he witnessed with his own eyes how Elena opened a briefcase full of money in front of Karla. Elena said with her icy voice, "Isn't this what you want? Take it and leave Harrison to marry me."_

 _Karla didn't say anything._

 _Elena then rolled her eyes and threw the cash right on Karla's face. She was raging, completely obsessed with how her pride was damaged because Harrison would choose a poor college girl over her. She threw the money one by one while calling her names like "whore", "gold digger", or "prostitute" again and again. Karla then spat right at her face and she was more than stunned._

 _Sooner than later, Harrison grabbed Karla's hand so tightly and glared at Elena before they marched out of the conference room. A shaken Karla just let Harrison take him wherever it was. Then Harrison slammed one black door open and they faced his parents. Karla wasn't that scared since Harrison looked so serious._

" _Harrison . . . what are you doing here with that trash?" His mother asked._

 _He responded by showing them their tangled hands and said, "I'd like you to meet my fiance."_

 _They gasped and Harrison suddenly dragged Karla out of their office and down to the lobby of the building. When Karla overcame her shock, she grabbed her wrist away from his protective grasp and as they stood by the vending machine, Karla asked incredulously, "We're getting married?"_

 _It amazed Harrison how he could still manage to smile despite of the situation, and it was all because of her. He chuckled when he marvelled, "I kind of skipped the proposal, didn't I?"_

 _Karla smiled and almost cried when Harrison knelt in front of her. There were a few people but they didn't mind them. He asked, "Karla, I love you so much so will you do the honour of marrying me?"_

 _In a span of three seconds, she finally decided and uttered, "Yes!"_

 _Harrison and wrapped his arms around her and spun her around. They were completely different—as different as north and south, but maybe that's why they had magnetic connection. After such passionate kiss, Harrison took an order from the vending machine._

" _What's that for? You suddenly got hungry?" Karla was curious._

" _I didn't have time to buy a ring so . . ." He then slid the onion ring to her third finger._

 **3 . . . 2 . . . 1**

 _He drove his car in the middle of the night, while he screamed out his anger. He recently found out that Ana wasn't his child. He was so happy when he and Karla finally had a child and he loved the child so much. However, he wasn't blind like Karla. He recognized how different she was and somehow the connection he felt with her wasn't that strong._

 _Then it happened. He listened to people's doubts that it was all about money and that she had always cheated. Maybe it was all true. Maybe everything was all a lie. His eyes were blurry because of all the tears and in three seconds . . . his car hit a truck._

 _~HH~_

 _While he was in coma for two months, his parents found out about the DNA test and they wasted no time taking everything away from Karla. They treated her like the trash they deemed she was when they threw all of her stuffs out of the house Harrison brought for his family. They even took Ana's last name away and shut down all bank accounts. Karla was more than scared, she asked Elena, "What are you doing?"_

 _Just like what Elena did with the money before, she threw the paper right to her face and Karla screamed how wrong the DNA results were. She demanded for a repeat._

 _Elena folded her arms and Harrison's father was the one who said, "You can't fool Harrison again, Karla. You may have had him wrapped around your middle finger but he's not gullible anymore."_

" _He won't do this to me! He won't do this to us!"_

" _He did. He's in Hungary for a business trip right now and he left us to take care of everything. He wants you two out of his life and Karla? He couldn't bear to see your face."_

 _There was Karla. College student, penniless, with a baby. Two weeks of being homeless and hungry . . . then she married Harrison's business rival, Raymond Steele._

 _~HH~_

 _After three months of being a comatosed patient, Harrison finally woke up and with an unsteady voice, he whispered, "K-karla . . . K-karla?"_

 _One second and to three . . . Elena who stood next to his parents explained, "Harrison, Karla's married to Raymond Steele now. Ana's last name is Steele now. Can't you see how much of a whore she is? Now you finally see?"_

 _Harrison remembered crying, tears falling, hospital furniture breaking, and a needle against his skin shushing him to sleep._

 _Before he fell asleep, he saw her Karla's face for three seconds._

Right now?

3 . . . 2 . . . 1

Harrison opened the envelope and sobbed. Christian's his son.

 **A/N: So there's a love story before the love story. What do you think of this chapter? We go back to Ana and Christian next chapter. My classes will be back on the first week of January so I am doing my best to update as regular as I could. Please leave a review.**

 **Thank you!**

 **HotelHeart23**


	11. Chapter 9

**A/N: Below**

 **Chapter 9**

"Christian . . . ung . . . ahhhh! Christian!" Ana screamed on top of her lungs just as Christian thrust in and out of her. He would pull out halfway then plunge back into her, making her complete again. He was on top of her, their sweat collaborate into a salty sea, and pants, moans, and groans, like notes perfectly written to form a seductive tone.

"Ana . . . Ana." Christian was breathless. It had been two weeks since the two did it for the first time and it was as if everything felt like the first time. They thought if it's normal to be always in the mood to have sex, especially since they've done it every day since then. Christian groaned louder when Ana wrapped her shivering legs around his torso.

"Come with me," Christian said in between the rugged breathings.

Ana was too incoherent to respond. After about six thrusts, the two came at the same time. The two then realize the difference between sex and making love. Sex is when two envelopes share their skin; while making love is when the envelopes share the letters they hide underneath. What's physical screamed a million words for the two, and those words involved love and how they're going to be together forever.

Christian kissed her cheek before he pulled out of her and disposed the condom to his trash bin. The two are in Christian's room and Ana vowed that she's gonna clean it someday while Christian just laughed at the fact that his room was messy.

The bed was crumpled like a sheet of paper and Christian lied on his back, still panting. Ana, on the other hand, lied on her front, blankets only covering the top of her butt and the skin behind her knees. She was too sexy for him and Christian wondered how he got so lucky to have her. Yes, he wanted to do it again but that was their third round and Ana was evidently exhausted of how sexually active they are.

He just took the moment to marvel over her beauty. She looked like an angel on top of the white clouds. Her eyes were closed but Christian knew that she was wide awake.

Then a sudden question fluttered her eyes open, "Ana, why do you love me?"

"Are you seriously asking me that?" Her voice was raspy.

"I just want to know."

Ana smiled at how juvenile he looked right at the moment. He was seriously a monster when it came to sex but right now? He looked like a lost kid who wanted to know why he deserved to receive a gift from Santa for Christmas. She reached out to trace the dark circles under his eyes, then she grabbed his left hand to kiss his five fingers one by one. After kissing them all, she held it so tight.

"I love you because you show me how broken things can still be beautiful."

Christian smiled at that and he knew there were other reasons but he was contented with that one. The fact is that all of us have some shit to carry and lucky are we if another person is willing to accept that shit. Christian's right hand rested and moved on Ana's back, like a painter carefully tracing the blank canvas with invisible colours.

It was her turn to ask, "Why do you love me?"

He simply answered, "Because you make me want to have things I thought I would never want."

"What are those?"

"You make me want to wear a tux inside a church someday. You make me want to watch TV after a long day from work. You make me want to drive you to a hospital when you need another ultrasound session. You make me want to see you run down from the stairs when I go home. You make me want to hug you from behind while you're trying to finish washing the dishes. You make me want to let you choose what I should wear when I need to go somewhere. You make me want to kiss you on the cheek and tell you that you should continue sleeping because I'll be the one to take care of the kids' breakfast."

Ana blushed and her heart soared, "You never considered that before?"

"To be honest with you, I never ever considered the fact that I could have a future and that's until I met you."

Ana almost cried, her throat heated up, so she just said nothing.

Christian joked, "You are responsible for our future children's names. Speaking of marriage and children, when can we get married?"

Ana joked, "When we turn forty?"

"That's too old!"

"Twenty-three," that's her serious answer.

Christian kissed her on the lips for a second before he said, "I think twenty-three is perfect. How about one kid?"

"Blip will be very lonely if he's an only child. I think two will do."

"Blip?" Christian smirked.

Ana blushed and covered her face. Christian then lifted her chin and pressed his lips against hers ferociously and deeply, before he took her from behind for the fourth time.

They have already planned their future. _What could possibly go wrong?_

~HH~

Karla was taking out the trash from her house. The sun was about to set and Ana texted that she'll be home thirty minutes later than usual because of a school project. She trusted her daughter so she just became passive towards the text message.

She got divorced for the fourth time just months ago and that resulted to her and Ana living from a grand mansion to a middle-class apartment. Karla was used to cleaning up her mess so she didn't want to bother cleaners from the apartment. People talked a lot of cruel words behind her back especially since Ana's DNA test came out negative and she was a four-time divorcee. All she thought of was she didn't have any reason to be guilty because there was no way Ana could have different parents and that the three marriages ended because she only loved one person and that one person never deserved her love at all.

As she was carrying the two black plastic bags in her two hands, she paused in her tracks.

There he was standing in front of her. It was unfair how after a decade, he still looked so refine, masculine, and handsome. He still had the posture for a man with royal blood and his grey eyes were still the storm that became both her solace and destruction. They stared at each other for quite too long that both have lost the track of time. The only difference about him was that he was wearing a tender expression—very different to the demonic stare he would throw at her.

Karla straightened her back and held her head up high. She shook her head and strut her way to the green garbage cans behind Harrison. She walk past him, as if he was nothing but thin air.

"Karla . . ." There was something different about his voice.

She was angry, "So I'm Karla now? Wow! I thought my name was whore, prostitute, or cheater!" She threw both plastic bags with full force and Harrison was shaken. His eyes glimmered at how hateful the words he used were. He wasn't himself but Karla didn't care. She was too hurt to care. She tried to walk past him again but he grabbed her wrist.

"What the hell are you doing?!" She shouted before she took her wrist away from his grasp.

For a man so confident and intelligent, he just lost a billion words. He breathed in and out, for more than twenty times and Karla grew tired.

Frustratingly, she ranted, "So you just came here to grab my wrist and then what? Are you gonna call me names again? Are you going to tell me how you didn't care when your daughter surprised you with a birthday cake? Are you going to rub it on my face? Now go ahead! Go ahead, Harrison because I've lost feelings a long, long time ago!"

Harrison was scorned as how she reminded him of all the bad things he had done but all responded was, "Karla, we don't have a daughter."

"What? There you go again! You just came here to—"

He blurted out, "We have a son and he is Christian Trevelyan-Grey."

Karla paused, completely fazed. Yes, she thought of how familiar Christian's eyes were and how she was oddly comfortable talking to him. But what Harrison's talking about? It's madness! It was possibly the craziest thing a person could tell someone. She shook her head again and again. Harrison, with an unstable breathing, offered her a brown envelope. Karla opened it in a dash and she couldn't believe what she was seeing.

Everything was there. Paper by paper, it was proven.

Harrison explained, "Karla, Christian's 100% positive as our son. We were expecting a boy and he was born June 18, 1990. Karla, look at everything!"

Karla dropped the papers in shock when she saw the last piece of paper. It was the loudest gasp and tears automatically sprang free from her green eyes. It was the one and only photo Ella had—a picture like Ana's reflection and to confirm, Harrison explained, "I think Ana and Christian are switched at birth."

She was sobbing out loud, knees dropped down the ground and the rain began to pour. Harrison rushed to save the documents and secured it inside his trench coat. Karla cried out loud. Karla mourned for the lost years with Christian, for the lost years with Harrison, for how she lost the war. Karla was crying like never before, but this time Harrison wrapped his arms around her and cried with her, feeling exactly the same.

Even though things are still unexplainably messy between the two of them and that there's an inevitable road of sadness between them two, she embraced him back because for the first time in sixteen years, she felt something she'd never felt for a long time.

His arms . . . his arms felt like home.

 **A/N: Happy New Year! Thank you for reading! Thank you for the reviews, the PMs , the follows, the favorites, everything! I actually have a lonely new year right now because I have a high fever and VERY sore throat. So to make me feel better . . .**

 **Reviews, please?**


	12. Chapter 10

**A/N: Below**

 **Chapter 10**

Grace recalled her favourite childhood toy: Rubik's Cube. She thought of how she wanted to perfectly align all the colours. Blue all the way to blue, one row filled with yellow, another one with red, then green, and then white. Unlike any other kid, solving the colors became so easy for her, that's why she took pleasure in destroying what seemed to be the color unison of the strategic four-sided toy. She wanted to see things not in order. She claimed that different colors bring much happiness to her eyes.

Maybe that's why she doesn't want anyone to solve the truth.

Her hand was shaking visibly so Carrick took a hold of it. Her husband couldn't understand why Harrison and Karla were sitting across them in their living room. Elliott and Mia were confused as well.

Carrick asked his son, "Are you sure Christian's on his way?"

Elliott agreed, "Yes, Christian just texted that he's on his way here, and you don't have to remind me again because I've already told him that he must be alone and that Ana shouldn't be here."

As soon as Elliott said it again, Grace was back to being out of breath. Her unsteady breathing was becoming audible and even Karla worried about her. Carrick wrapped one arm around his wife who was acting so strange. She used to be so calm and she would interrogate in situations like this. Carrick knew then that Grace knew exactly what was happening and she was the most frightened in her forty two years of existence.

Karla tenderly asked, "Grace, are you okay?"

She couldn't answer her. Instead she looked straight into Karla's green eyes and they were the trees flashing by her moving fast car accompanied by the bright ray of the sun. They were pristine, pure, holy, and most of all, long-suffering. She was a good person and suddenly something just stirred inside Grace's heart. She thought of the questions she was too selfish to ask before:

What if she told them?

What if Christian had a happier life with his real parents?

What if she just opened her mouth to pour out the overflowing words?

Grace finally realized after a long time, "She should have let the colours aligned. She should have put things in order. She should have done what was right. These were people's lives, and not some leisure games. Karla, Christian, Ana, Harrison . . . they were the colors scattered by her cruel fingers. They were human beings and not the colors in a Rubik's Cube."

Grace then stopped breathing when Christian entered the place. Carrick, Elliott, and Mia were too shocked when Karla almost cried the instant she saw him. She ran across the room just to wrap her arms around the tall sixteen year old. Christian, out of intense shock, didn't hug her back. Karla pressed weeping face against his chest and Christian immediately pushed her away , eyes too wide due to someone touching the most sensitive part of him. Anger and fear dawdled with both his grey eyes.

Carrick was instantly anxious about the intensity in the air. He looked at Harrison and he too was being unstable.

"Mom, why are you here? Why are you crying? My goodness! Christian, what's wrong? What—" Ana stopped speaking as soon as she saw Harrison sitting on the couch. She paused on her tracks and stared at everybody.

Something was wrong. Something was definitely wrong.

Karla stopped crying and composed herself to sweetly tell Ana with a cracked voice, "Ana, dear, get out of here. Harrison and I agreed to come here just as long as you don't appear. Ana, please for my sanity, just get out of his house and I promise I will tell you everything. Ana, so please go now."

"Mom, no . . . I am not leaving until I find out what's going on," she was persistent as she clung onto Christian's arm.

"Ana, I am asking you to leave for your own benefit. C-Christian shouldn't have brought you here."

"He told me not to come with him but I insisted! What are you hiding from me? What are you all hiding from me?!"

Karla shook her head and repeated, "Ana, please go now and—"

"MOM, I AM NOT LEAVING! TELL ME WHAT'S GOING ON! TELL ME!"

Then it all became too much for Grace, she suddenly revealed with voice of a guilty child, "Ana and Christian are switched at birth." Everyone turned silent, everyone lost their voice. Mia and Elliott embraced each other with mouth open. Karla and Harrison both looked at Grace in shock. Carrick's chest moved up and down and up and down, back to back.

Christian's eyes saw fog and Ana's ears got deaf. Slowly, ever so slowly, as the silence moved with the seconds, she took her grasp from Christian and released a sigh Christian thought mirrored his. The two felt . . . defeated. They were from their highest and they thought they won, but the whole time they were playing a game with rules they knew nothing about.

This was the worst kind of defeat.

Grace sobbed with words barely understood, "I am so sorry. I am really sorry! I am so sorry! I am really sorry! Rhian switched the two and when she died, she left me a letter. I found Christian but I wanted to keep him because I thought I was the best mother for him. I am so sorry! I am really sorry! I am sorry!" Her apology was repetitive.

Karla sobbed louder, "YOU KNEW IT ALL ALONG?!"

"I am so sorry," was all Grace said. She was a mess.

Suddenly Karla attacked her. She was pulling her and clawing some parts of her skin while she screamed, "I am not a whore! I never cheated on my husband! You stole my family! Ugh!" She was the most violent but Grace just said sorry. Carrick tried to stop the two and Harrison eventually tried to.

In the corner of Harrison's eyes, he saw Ana falling down on her knees and it was evident that she wasn't breathing. She wasn't crying. Her eyes were actually screaming something worse: it screamed that everything was over and that everything she knew was a lie. Christian was crying too and it tugged Harrison's heart to see his son that way. However broken he was, when Christian saw his girlfriend kneeling down defeated, he covered her ears with hands, to prevent her from hearing Karla and Grace's screams—from preventing her from hearing how they're fighting for Christian, and no one's fighting for her.

Harrison pulled Karla away but she was still violent.

That was when Ana stood up and walked out of the Grey mansion. Christian followed after her and no matter how much he wanted to break into pieces; he called out her name, "Ana? Ana? Ana?" He only got her to listen to him when he grabbed her wrist. He immediately hugged her from behind and buried his nose on her shoulder.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry," he didn't even know what he was sorry about.

"Let go of me," her voice was stone cold. It was like he didn't know her anymore.

"I am sorry. I am really sorry." Even though none of it was his fault.

"Let go!"

Then the tears freely fell down when Ana's back was shaking violently. She let out the most painful sob and Christian felt like he was stabbed.

"Let go of me!" Ana pushed him away and did it successfully in the fifth time she tried to. Christian saw her leave and he couldn't do anything. He just pressed his forehead against the door and sank onto the ground, completely mortified by how he and Ana lived their life in a quicksand of lies.

He was crying the loudest, faces flashed before his eyes: Carrick, Grace, Ella, the Pimp, Harrison, Elliott, Mia, Karla, Ana . . . faces flashed again and again until he felt himself getting suffocated. It didn't take long before he dreamed of black and all the plans he made with Ana that are unsure to come true.

They were the colors Grace decided to keep from order. They were the colors Grace destroyed. But now that everything was revealed and the colors found when they truly belonged, it still didn't feel right. All of them felt the need to hammer the Rubik's Cube into pieces.

 **A/N: I was watching my brother play Rubik's Cube and I thought of the characters though. Lol. Thank you for the follows, PMs, reviews, and favorites! Guys, you made my day! You really did! 2017 was greater because of you!**

 **I was listening to Plumb's I Want You Here while writing this. I recommend you listen to it.**

 **Tell me your thoughts?**


	13. Chapter 11

**A/N: Below**

 **Disclaimer: FSOG and its characters are not mine.**

Chapter 11

Ana doesn't know who she is anymore. Inside the Cimmerian view of her dark room, she sat down the wooden floor, lost and all alone, mouth never opening, mind relentless racing, eyes darted at nothing, and heart wanting to stop beating. She doesn't even know how long she's been like this.

Even her body screams of the mystery of her newly found identity. Ana's tears quickly run each time she realized her blood carries the same of the woman who put Christian's life is misery. Christian. She thought of him—the one person she loved more than the idea of love itself. She thought the two of them had it all figured out, but this was the obstacle they never saw coming. She didn't even know that their lives have been tangled up so badly and that Christian should have had a happy life and she should have had her chest burned by the pimp when she was young.

That's how things were supposed to be.

Now, Ana searched for herself in the lines of her palm. Her fingers trace them like road lines on a map, but whatever way she searched or whichever method she'd use, they all lead to the cul-de-sac of unhappiness. She realized it right then and there, that happiness is not for everybody.

"Ana . . . Ana . . . talk to me, please. Dear, you've been there for three days already! Come out of your room please!" Karla was anguished while she pounded the door. Ana then realized that she didn't even know that it had been three days since she was just sitting there. She didn't even bother to eat or take a bath. Maybe that's why she felt dizzy. Regardless of the sickness, Ana didn't care.

She embraced sickness.

She embraced hunger.

She embraced the thought of death. She wasn't going anywhere anyway.

Karla's voice made it obvious that she's weeping, "Ana, please don't do this to yourself, okay? I know that this hurts like hell but please don't do this to yourself! You are hurting me! I love you, Ana, okay? Don't ever doubt that."

The sixteen year old started to cry again when she realized that Karla's not her real mother. Even the only woman who loved her wasn't real. Ana began to doubt if everything in her life was real.

She continued, "Ana, I am so sorry that I tried to keep you out of it. I didn't want you to be hurting. I am so sorry. I didn't want any of these! I wanted you to know about it not in that way. I wouldn't have abandoned you, you know that."

Ana didn't even respond.

"Can you just tell me that you are still breathing? Tap the floor or something please."

Upon Karla's plea, Ana's knuckles tapped the wooden floor lazily.

"I will leave your food outside, okay? Please eat." She said before she left.

Ana then gathered her energy just to eat and left the used plate and utensils at the same spot. Then she would return to being zoned out again.

That was when she realized that she's tired of everything. She fought so hard that she didn't even know the title of the game she's playing. She breathed the toughest of flames only to be blown off by Grace's wind. When she closed her eyes to sleep became her sanctuary. It was the only place where she could be the girl who has her life lived in normalcy. In her dreams, nothing was wrong. She was the happy daughter of Karla and Harrison, while Christian was a happy son of Carrick and Grace. They'd fall in love and they'd live the life they imagined with Blip.

That's what she saw . . . until she woke up.

~HH~

"Ana? Can you open the door for me?" Ana flinched at the sound of Christian's voice coming from outside of the room. He sounded . . . tortured. He was suffering too, and Ana reminded herself that it was because of her real mother.

"Ana? Karla told me that you've been there for five days! Ana, have you eaten already? Ana, please answer me! Ana!" Christian aggressively knocked on the door and Ana felt how angry he was.

Christian knocked and knocked and knocked but she didn't open the door. He screamed out all his frustrations and pounded the door. Ana's tears fell each time she flinched. She knew what he was doing now. He was silently crying while he slid down the floor. True to her thought, Christian sat down the floor back pressed against the door, back shaking because of how chaotic this was.

On the other side of the door, Ana sat too—as devastated as Christian.

She cried the thunder and yelled the lightning. Christian responded too. They were the sea and the sky after all.

She finally spoke, "I am really sorry, Christian."

"You have nothing to be sorry for," his voice was unusually husky.

Ana didn't say anything. She just cried and Christian did too. The door separated them but the sounds of their hearts were too loud and they wanted to be wrapped in each other's arms but they just can't as of the moment.

The heartbroken boy then realized that the future he viewed with Ana was seen through a dusted window and now that the dusted window was completely taken away and happened to be a twisted revelation, Christian can see things clearly now. There were too many obstacles in the future. Young love's blind and that's often the death of it.

Before he left he said, "I miss you."

Ana never replied.

~HH~

It was the seventh day of Ana staying inside her room. Karla decided to give her space since she needed her own too. She religiously checked if Ana ate and she became devastated again when she realized she didn't eat the chicken she prepared.

Karla knocked on the door and her heart almost pounded out of her chest when Ana wasn't tapping the wooden floor. There wasn't any sound coming from the room and Karla started to panic. She tried to find spare keys but there were nowhere to be found. She tried to break the sturdy wooden door and nothing happened. She was crying out of fear. Ana should have replied and Karla's eyes widened in horror when she realized all the possibilities that could have happened.

She rushed out of the apartment building to get some help from a neighbour and thankfully he was huge to enough to tear the door down.

Karla screamed in horror while the neighbour called 911.

~HH~

Christian's feet moved faster than the wind as he rushed to the hospital upon hearing the horrifying news. Yes, their lives have been twisted upside down but he never thought that Ana would do this to herself. He never imagined her to cut her own wrists. Christian was too worried, too sad, and most of all, too wrathful to think clearly.

He stopped running when he saw Karla and Harrison, his parents talking to the doctor and both her mortified. Christian kept his distance from them when he asked, "Doctor, what happened? How is Ana?"

The doctor looked over at Christian and exclaimed, "Hello Sir! Good morning! You're lucky to have reported the accident early because we were able to save her life. She would have died when she wasn't brought here."

"She's alive!" Christian breathed before he pressed his back against the wall in relief. The doctor misused the word 'accident'. It was clearly not an accident.

Yes, Ana was alive but Christian felt dead. The pain was still as sharp as a knife since she has hurt him in the most painful way he imagined. For a minute, he was back to his younger self. He was inside a room with a girl lying down the floor due to killing herself—a girl he loved so dearly. Christian was sobbing out loud so Karla had the urge to comfort her son.

He didn't let her.

Despite the fact that the tension was too hard to stand, the doctor still added, "May I know your relation to the patient, sir?"

Harrison answered for Christian, "He's the boyfriend."

The doctor then said, "You must be the father then."

The world stopped. Christian's lungs stopped.

"Sir, I am sorry but due to the patient's stress and accident, she lost your baby. I am really sorry."

And just like that, they hit rock bottom.

 **A/N: 2017 is really busy. I still go to school so updates will not be as frequent as it was during the Holiday season. Thank you so much for the reviews, favorites, follows, and private messages! This story feels more special now because of you.**

 **I know this chapter is sensitive and let me confirm, Ana didn't know that she was pregnant.**

 **Thoughts please?**


	14. Chapter 12

**A/N: Below.**

 **Chapter 12**

They fell in love and fell apart just like that. Ana and Christian thought their love story was made by the deepest of all inks, only to find out that it was just a scribble of a pen; so fast and it took long to decipher. The two of them mourned the loss of a love that they thought was strong enough. What's worse was that they lost him . . . Little Blip. Christian never knew if he was a boy or a girl but he would have loved him any other way. Deep inside he knew that he would have stayed.

Christian looked into the mirror and saw what could've been. He could've stayed with her despite the crazy situation. He could've traced his fingers across her stomach lovingly. He could've kissed his son and sang him to sleep. He could've . . . he could've.

"Son?" Christian's moment was interrupted when Harrison stood by the door, wearing black as well. Yes, blip was just one month old but they thought that they would pay tribute for him. The sixteen year old boy wiped his tears away; he didn't even realize that he was crying.

Harrison's eyes glimmered too, "I am so sorry for you loss. I don't know how you're feeling right now but I want you to know that I am here for you. I know that this will be extremely difficult and it will never be forgotten but we're here. All you have to know is that you are not alone with this."

Christian sniffled before he straightened his back, gaining back his grip.

"Tell me what to do to make it feel okay," Harrison pleaded.

Christian walked towards him and said, "Don't ever call me your son again, okay?" before he ambled past him.

~HH~

The Grey's garden smelled grief and regrets. Christian tried his best not to look at Grace. He may not be looking but his heart knew that everything wasn't the same anymore. Elliott lost his jolly side, Mia's glow faded, Carrick's arms weren't wrapped around Grace's body, Harrison and Karla stood between a gap, and Ana shook as she was waiting for him.

Dressed in black and guilt, Ana anxiously met Christian's bittersweet gaze.

Christian was feeling relieved that she was alive but each time he remembered the reason why they were gathered today, the foreign feeling of anger towards Ana would knock his door open.

"Shall we get on with it?" Christian's harsh way of asking made Ana flinch.

Grace had the loudest cry when Ana and Christian began to plant a tree. It was a reminder of Little Blip. They all prayed silently and Ana felt that there was missing in the moment. She hated herself more and more now. Christian should've wrapped an arm around her but each time he looked at her bandage-wrapped wrists; he would be reminded that she was the main reason of all of these. He didn't want to feel this way but he should've been a father . . . and she took it away from him.

They were looking at the newly planted tree before leaving Ana and Christian one by one. The two then were staring at the tragedy's reminder.

The silence was cut when Christian spoke, "Remember that time when I asked why you love me? Remember when you asked it back?"

"Yes," Ana's voice cracked.

"I didn't say everything."

Ana began to cry.

Christian continued, "I love you because your eyes are the blue fountain pen that creates a trail of love letters. I love you because you're the person I want to have coffee with every morning, and cuddle under the duvet when it's December. I love you because you bring out the poetry in me. I love you because you showed me that the sunlight was found in your eyes. Most of all, I love you because I love myself when I'm with you."

"I'm sorry, Christian, I—"

"Remember what you said about the sea and the sky?"

Ana nodded painfully.

"The sea loves the sky because it won't try to kill himself and leave the sky alone regardless of everything that happened! He would've stood by the cloud even though things would be very difficult. He would've done everything!"

"Christian, I am so sorry. I am really sorry. If I knew that I was preg-pregnant, I-I wouldn't have . . . I wouldn't have . . . I am so sorry, Christian!" Ana fell down the ground and her body shook because of the intense sobs. Christian stared at her with intense amount of loneliness.

He wanted to scream at her. He wanted to tell her how awful her actions were. He wanted to yell out all the possibilities ruined by the decision to be weak.

Instead he found himself sitting right next to her, holding her tight and shushing her.

Ana cried, "Christian, I am really sorry. I am really sorry." The apologies were repeated over a million times.

Christian wiped her tears when he asked with such desperation, "Can I ask you a favour, Love?"

Ana nodded and whispered, "What?"

"Can you break my heart all at once and not piece by piece? I know that you're about to break my heart again and again. Can you just do it once?"

"Christian, I am really sorry . . . but . . . I cannot handle this anymore."

He loosened his grip, "What do you mean?" He was still strong but was shaken a little bit. Christian fingers played with the grass, cutting them little by little, like what Ana did to his heart. It was a strange request but Christian wanted Ana to cut it from the root, since it was easier that way.

"I am leaving. I can't even look at myself in the mirror anymore, Christian. I am reminded of how much my own mother hurt you just to make sure that I could have a happy and delusional future. I am really sorry but I will live in Canada with my father, Ray. I never wanted it to be this way but I can't love you if I hate myself. I am sure if the roles were reversed, you would do the same."

He was breathless.

"Christian, I would've stayed strong if—if I knew Blip was there inside me. I failed you and I failed him too." She cried again, her tears pouring down at the reminder of Blip.

He looked at her thoroughly and realized that what she's going through was not a joke. It was hard for him but it's harder for her. He then did what true love does . . . letting go.

"Okay," he confirmed despite the pain.

"Okay?"

"Just another favour, please?"

"Anything," she assured.

"Come back to me after everything has been healed."

Ana smiled and gave a small but assuring nod.

Christian then placed his palm on top of the soil while Ana put her hand on top of his.

Her melodious voice sang for Blip, "Somewhere over the rainbow, way up high. There's a land that I've heard of once in a lullaby."

It didn't take long before Christian sang with her.

 **A/N: Sad :( Thank you for reading! Reviews please? (I can't even write a note because of how sad this made me feel. Hope you don't feel the same with the reviews.)**


	15. Broken Bottles

**A/N: Below**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own FSOG**

 **BROKEN BOTTLES**

The thing about stereos is that they're better and more courageous than human's mouths. The words the stereo spoke of are words people wanted to express for a long time, but just couldn't found the strength.

Harrison Montgomery sat on his office chair, ears attentive to the song playing from the wooden stereo. He stared at the wall as vignettes fall into place in the spaces of his mind. His regrets already found him and it replaced his anger. He contemplated how he'd rather feel anger than regret. Anger could murder others but regret could form into suicide. His fingers tapped his desk one by one, as if there was an invisible piano.

M-Corp was the sponsor and producer of a concert. Indie artists, _Kollision_ , made up of sibling-members, Kate and Ethan Kavanaugh interested Harrison Montgomery so he genuinely offered to be one of the biggest sponsors.

He couldn't deny how much he loved the band because of the lyrics. His heart sang along with it, cracks synchronizing with the bottle of whiskey pressed and worried between his wrathful hands. He listened:

 _Broken Bottles, I feel you beneath my feet,_

 _You've caused me to lose my trust in every step I take._

 _Broken Bottles, you accompany me under the sheet,_

 _When it's supposed to be her moans and pants I make._

 _Broken Bottles, yes, we meet._

 _I feel like everything in my life has been faked._

 _Broken Bottles, oh this is sweet,_

 _You say my blood is sweet when our hands shake._

 _~HH~_

 _ **Broken Bottles, I feel you beneath my feet,**_

 _ **You've caused me to lose my trust in every step I take.**_

"Carrick?"

The weary lawyer tensed as soon as he heard his angel's voice. Little did he know that women become angels once love has made a veil on a man's eyes. She sounded like drizzle but she was the worst kind of storm. Her eyes looked like the Pacific Ocean until he realized that oceans have secret he'd rather not know. He looked back at her and she winced as soon as she saw that he was holding a bottle of alcoholic beverage.

She still continued, "Carrick?"

"What are you doing here?" That was when he realized that it was the first time he'd ever sounded cruel towards her. He heard it once that love was never Libra, love was never inclined with balance. One person always loves the other more and that one person is him.

Grace then grasped his arms and begged, "I am so sorry. I am really sorry. I don't know that it would come down to this. I thought that we could hide it forever. I am really sorry, Carrick. I only did it because I love you?"

Then the loudest of sounds echoed down the four corners of his study room as the floor violently met the shattered bottle. Grace looked down at it and it was a reminder of how their marriage turned out all because of her lie. They were a shattered glass now and once glass was broken, there will always be cracks, there will always be holes.

He screamed, "YOU DID IT BECAUSE YOU LOVE ME? YOU DID IT BECAUSE YOU LOVE ME?!"

Grabbing Grace's shoulders, she shook at the foreign feeling of his dark side. Carrick said through his clenched teeth, "I loved you, Grace. I loved you so much. I loved you and I loved you and I loved you and I loved you. I never left you even though you can't give me a biological child. If you really loved me, you wouldn't have lied to me! If you trusted my love, you wouldn't have had doubts and insecurities! Do you know how many lives you've ruined? A lot! Grace, a lot! Even the life of the person you have forgotten for twelve years."

She knew what he was talking about.

Jack Hyde.

The little boy they both wanted to adopt before Grace met Christian.

Carrick insisted to choose the expectorant Jack but since he loved her so, they chose Christian.

"You want to know something, Grace?"

She didn't but he still said:

"You lost me."

 _~HH~_

 _ **Broken Bottles, you accompany me under the sheets,**_

 _ **When it's supposed to be her moans and pants I make.**_

"You sure you can take another shot?" Luke asked with concern. It's been awhile since Christian last had a drinking session with his group. He wanted to kiss Mary Jane like the other two boys do but he just didn't feel like it. He'd rather be in the company of Jack Daniels for now.

It was his fifth bottle and he couldn't even stand up. He was guffawing like a crazy person and since Luke knew what happened, he did nothing but made sure that Christian wouldn't go to his craziest. He almost drove a motorcycle while drunk before but Luke luckily stopped him and drove him home instead. He was his best friend and it hurt him to see Christian like this.

He slurred, "Have you ever fallen in love?"

"You know that, Bro," Luke said.

Christian laughed sarcastically, "With Leila? She's a dumb bitch! Why would you want her? She's nothing like Ana!"

Luke was deeply offended but he knew nothing good ever came out arguing with a drunk person.

He was ranting now, face as red as beet, and nose flaring the darkest of breaths, "She isn't Ana! She isn't my beautiful Ana! She isn't the woman I love?!" Suddenly Christian stood up and his eyes widened as if he were in shock, "Where is Ana? Where is Ana? ANA?!"

His footsteps knocked some bottles down and Luke looked at him with such sympathy. His bestfriend . . . lost the woman he loves, lost the child he will surely love . . . lost everything. The bottles were broken and Christian tripped, gaining wounds from such careless act.

His elbow was bleeding and the other two boys just laughed at him like it was done for comedic purposes. Luke then stood up to assist him but he shoved him away, he even tried to punch him. Luke's teeth bit the inner walls of his mouth and realized that his best friend must be in so much pain. His heart ached seeing his friend this way.

Christian screamed, "We would've been a family! I would have made myself ready. Fuck you, Grace! Fuck you, Ella! Fuck you! Fuck you!" He threw some bottles on the wall and like the escalating sounds of the continuous breaking, his heart felt the same.

He was lost in his own tears.

 _~HH~_

 _ **Broken Bottles, yes, we meet.**_

 _ **I feel like everything in my life has been faked.**_

Ana listened to Kollision's song over the radio while she was inside the cab. She remembered seeing Kate and Ethan when she was just a little girl. They would offer an inviting smile but Harrison would always shake his head, and Ana thought that he loved them more than he loved her.

Now she knew why: She wasn't his to be loved.

Ana rested her head against the transparent windows, eyes adjusting to the new sight. Trees and skies flashed before her and she thought of how a cab driver can be the fastest painter. She was looking at the moving museum and the paintings just went on and on. This was Ontario, Canada, the new museum she'd like to be a work of art in. There are second chances in life.

She'll forgive herself then she'll come back to Christian, that's the plan.

The cab driver asked, "You new here?"

"Yes," she whispered.

Suddenly an unusual sight was seen along with the new colourful scenery. There was a man lying down the roadside, broken bottles next to him, but the moving up and down of his chest signified that he was still alive. He wasn't broke, he was broken, and Ana thought that the letter N difference stood for "Never Healed" and for a moment, Ana felt like him.

Ana randomly asked the driver, "Do you think there's still hope for that man?"

He then told her, "We fall to rise, my dear."

Somehow . . . she smiled.

 _~HH~_

Christian's eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness. He didn't know what happened the night before. He reeked of alcohol and smoke and the first name he spoke, as if it's as natural as breathing was, "Ana?"

Then a pang of pain hit his chest when he realized that she wasn't part of her life for a moment and she'd be gone. He sat down the bed and realized that this wasn't the same motel room they first told each other about their feelings. He shook his head, not interested in knowing how he made it here.

He coughed a little before he stood up to walk out of the door.

A woman met his face and he raised his brow in confusion.

"Who are you?" He asked in a harsh tone.

"Oh! I am the one who placed some bandages on your wounds."

Christian looked at his skin and there were at least five bandaged wounds. He rolled his eyes as he was reminded of the pain once again.

He was about to reply to the girl but a man appeared behind her. He was almost as tall as Christian.

"Oh honey! He's awake already? We found you on the streets last night. You were a mess, man. My girlfriend here was too nice that she thought it would be too cruel for us to leave you like that."

Christian snorted, obviously not feeling the aura of this man. There was something so mistrusting about him and he couldn't point his finger at it.

The man then offered his hand, "I am Jack Hyde and this is my girlfriend, Elizabeth Morgan."

Sceptically . . . Christian shook his hand for a second.

 _ **Broken Bottles, oh this is sweet,**_

 _ **You say my blood is sweet when our hands shake.**_

 **A/N: This is a new style of writing for this chapter and please do review, follow, or favourite or PM because it matters to me. You guys are the best. I am so inspired to write more and more and more.**

 **Thank you! Thank you!**


	16. Chapter 13

**A/N: Below**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own FSOG**

 **Chapter 13**

"What's your favourite song, Ana?"

"Rainbow from The Wizard of Oz," she answered as if her heart already knew in an instant. She buried her face on the pages of her Science book. School started in Canada already and even though she's been residing there for three months, she still can't seem to adjust with the new environment.

Jose Rodriguez, the head of the student council was very friendly to her and she was getting more and more uncomfortable. Perhaps it was Ana's eyes that seemed like a blue fountain pen writing a mystery novel that drew him closer to her. He was drawn to her and he was confident that she will say yes to a date.

"Rainbow, huh? You like Broadway or something?"

"Hmmm . . ." She was too focused on studying.

"If you ask me, I'd like to introduce you to the world of rock. You are going to feel so cool watching me play the guitar! Not just a guitar but an electric guitar! So do you want to go out with me?"

"No," she answered faster than the first question.

"Why?" Jose was insulted. Correction: Jose's ego was insulted.

At this point, Ana slammed her Science book shut and glared at him. She asked him back, "Why do you want to date me?"

"Is that a question?"

"It ends with a question mark so it is indeed a question."

Jose answered, "The question is why shouldn't I date you? Look at you! Look at those eyes! Look at that hair and look at that skin and the mystery? Dude, it's overflowing. You are perfect, Anastasia. You don't know how perfect you are."

Ana rolled her eyes. That's how she could differentiate like from love. Like is when you are with the person because of perfection and love is when you still stay despite of imperfections. Looking at Jose, she knew that he wasn't the type who would love her and another correction was that no one could love her the same way Christian does.

She remembered her soulmate's name and calmness crashed in the forming crystallized cracks in her eyes.

Her voice was tender when she said, "Jose, you shouldn't date me."

"Why?"

"Because I am not who you think I am. Maybe someday you will find someone who can like you the same way you like me but it's just not me."

Jose rolled his eyes, "This is pathetic, Ana. Don't you know who I am? You should be honoured that I am asking you out!"

Despite his attitude, Ana took in a deep breath and said, "Jose, you like music, right?"

He nodded.

"Do you have a song in your playlist that you never play again but it's just there and you can't force yourself to delete it?"

Again, he nodded.

"I have someone like that. He's my favourite song but life just got in the way and everything went out of tune. He's just there but I let him be. At the same time, I don't erase him out of my life. I'm pretty sure you understand me, right?"

He did understand and Ana smiled to herself before she went back to studying.

And she thought how she wanted to hear that her favourite song again.

~HH~

"Man, she's a keeper! Look at her butt! It's my favourite conjunction!"

Jack Hyde was pretty humorous in his own way and Christian can't help but to laugh at him. He just found himself a new friend and he appeared to be a good influence on him. Instead of going to the clubs and bars, Jack to him to a decent restaurant because he and Elizabeth just thought Christian needed company, and he oddly found himself comfortable with the thought of having friends to talk to.

"You talk about your girlfriend that way?"

"What's wrong with that, Man?" Jack was looking at Elizabeth whose curves were exaggerated by her black latex dress.

"It's just that . . . I don't know."

Jack guffawed and Christian's eyes widened. In between the humourless chuckles, he asked him in disbelief, "You believe in love and shit?"

Christian didn't say anything.

Jack then expressed, "Dude, love doesn't exist! It doesn't exist! Fuck! We exist because of today and not because of tomorrow. We love because we want pleasure and that's just it! Yes, Elizabeth's ass is . . . heaven! Shit!"

Christian shook his head again and again, and Jack thought it was funny.

He continued, "Seriously, dude, grow up! I mean . . . look at the world around you. There are so many women and it means that you can have them because women fall for guys like us! And—" He paused and laughed harder this time, "Are you in love with someone?"

Christian just took a sip of root beer and Jack wanted to roll on the floor.

"Who is she? Who is she? Dude, you suck!"

His middle finger was his response.

Elizabeth came back and sat on Jack's lap. "I hate you," she told him and he told her, "I hate you more" before the two made out like Christian wasn't sitting in front of them.

The sixteen year old boy tried to understand how Jack's mind worked—he thought of Elizabeth's too. That was when he realized that every mind was a labyrinth and that you'd try to make through the maze if you really desire to understand a person. That reminded him of Ana . . . he would run through the most complicated maze for her.

And because he thought of her, he lost track of Jack's thinking . . . he was determined to know who Christian loved for it could be the one thing that could destroy him.

~HH~

It was a cold night but Ana can't help but watch the view outside the window. The sky was starless and the streets were filled with the lights from the pavement. She was in her high school dormitory building. Ray insisted she stayed at his house but she claimed that she wanted to be independent and to learn how to have friends. She guessed she just lost one in the form of Jose.

She looked around and the girls were fast asleep.

The room may be full but she still felt empty.

After three long months of silence, she finally dialled his number.

"Hello Ana?" He was quicker than lightning.

Unexpectedly she cried at the sound of his voice.

His voice cracked too when he said, "I miss you. Oh God, I miss you."

She sobbed, "I miss you too."

"What's the problem?" He got worried immediately.

"It's just that your voice sounds like home."

"Then come back here!" He sounded so desperate.

"No, I still can't, Christian. I still can't. I haven't healed yet."

"Ana . . ."

"Christian, I just wanted to hear your voice. It's been three months and I am slowly accepting things. I just woke up and feared that you got tired of my shit and—"

"Never, Ana. Never. I will never get tired of you."

She cried, "I love you so much, Christian. I love you."

"I love you . . . so much."

That's when the two realized that no matter the circumstances, when two people love each other they love each other. True soulmates run back into each other's arms despite the separations that threatened. Two souls are bodies made of an entire galaxy: truly beautiful and definitely infinite. In that moment, there wasn't a Jose who asked her out for a date, there wasn't a Jack who told Christian that he could have any woman, there wasn't a tragic secret that taunted them since birth.

It was just the two of them.

The sea and the sky.

Ana and Christian.

He told her, "You will always be my other half, Ana."

She argued, "No, Christian . . ."

He was taken aback, expecting all the worst case scenarios.

Then she appeased him when she said, "You are my better half."

 **A/N: Hi! It's been awhile. College life has got me reeling to my bones. Guys, school is never a joke. Lol. By the way, thank you so much for waiting for my update. It may take long but don't you worry because I will finish this story. Thank you for the support I've been receiving. Please review though . . . and I love it when you send PM's as well!**

 **Thank you so much. I love you all.**


	17. Chapter 14

**A/N: Below**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own FSOG**

 **Chapter**

Twelve months has passed by since Blip departed but it still felt like yesterday.

"Why can't you hang out with me, Man?" Jack asked over the phone. There was loud music playing in the background and Christian definitely knew that his best friend was up to no good.

He just laughed at it though and replied, "Really can't, Man. Sorry."

"A lotta booze right here. Don't be such a loser!" Christian wondered how Jack Hyde became his best friend.

"Jack, I have somewhere I need to be. I'll catch up with you."

He let out a sigh of frustration when he replied, "Asshole."

Christian took it as a joke, "Well, I need to attend this family event with my parents and this only happens once a year. See you later, Asshole."

"Loser," Jack spoke before he turned his phone off.

Thinking he was just being his usual self, Christian smugly smiled to himself. He and Jack seemed pretty much unlikely but among all people, Christian confided in him. He had proven a great friendship to him and he let him drink or smoke or whatever things needed to be done in order to forget Anastasia. Christian wondered at first why Jack would listen all day about his issues, but then he realized that you just meet people who will listen to you no matter what.

Then he knew that however impossible it may sound like, there will be people who won't get tired of you.

Carrying a bouquet of white roses and scented lilies, Christian walked to the year-grown tree planted in the Grey backyard. Harrison and Karla were already waiting for their son. Much to Christian's dismay, Carrick wasn't there. Ever since the secret came out, he became a hundred times more attached to his career. He wasn't the same anymore and Christian didn't need to ask why. Regarding Grace, Christian didn't want her presence. For a second, he let himself be alone with Harrison and Karla and . . . Blip, of course.

"Hello, son. How was school?" Harrison asked his estranged seventeen year-old.

Clutching the handle of the basket, Christian took a deep breath and said, "Usual."

With so much warmth held in Karla's gaze, she offered her son a comforting smile and asked, "Shall we offer the flowers now?"

As Christian moved closer towards the tree, he was reminded that he was like the grass. As the grass bended in every step he took, his knees did too. He put the flowers at the bottom of the tree and his eyes relentlessly beheld the figment of imagination that the tree could have been his little one year old. For a second, he came back to imagining the "what if's". He could've thrown a gigantic birthday bash for his little Blip and things would have been easier for Ana. She wouldn't be in Canada and she would choose to stay strong for their son.

Christian was certain that Blip's a boy. He saw him almost every night when his eyes naturally decide to close.

Karla noticed the way her son grasped something on his wrist and when she decided to look closer, she instantly knew who gave it to him.

"Christian, did Ana give you that wristband?"

He was taken away from his mourning and a treasured loving memory was brought back. Christian smiled for the first time this day. Still kneeling down the floor, he recalled that night—that night they shared each other like two islands in the same ocean, "Ana gave this to me and I never failed to wear it every day."

"Is that the cyclone of Oz?" Karla smiled, voice evidently missing Ana.

Her reminiscent tone got Christian curious, "You know?"

"Yes, I do. Ever since she was a little kindergartener she could never shut her mouth up about you. She even drew a wedding photo of you and I was so mad that time when she bled because she defended you from those kids throwing rocks at you. She loves you, Christian and she always will. At the age of five, she said that your eyes were the cyclone that took her to Oz and you know how I knew that it was love?"

"How?"

"Because you brought out the poet in her. I felt it once so I knew it was real."

Harrison froze at what Karla said. There was an awkward tension but Christian decided not to dwell on it.

"Her love's not strong enough for me though," Christian reasoned.

Karla tenderly shook her head, "Son, just because she isn't strong enough doesn't mean that her love is not strong enough. Give her time. I know her. She just needed a break."

Like the grass he was, Christian stood up once again. No matter how many times life stepped on him, he never failed to stand firm once again.

It took him by surprise too when he asked Karla, "May I hug you?"

Karla almost cried before she nodded. They embraced and Christian smelled the scent he never found in Grace: the scent of home.

It didn't take long before Carrick joined them.

 _~HH~_

"Where are we going, Dad?" Ana asked Ray. They were both inside his Mercedes Benz and it seemed like they've been traveling for hours. She may not be speaking but Ray knew the sound of her heartbeat. Yes, she wasn't his biological daughter but he treated her like she was. Her heartbeat had a voice and this time it was a voice of anguish.

It had exactly been a year and Ray decided it was time to show her.

The car stopped in front of a cemetery and Ana was more than confused. Without saying a word, she followed Ray's lead. He always appeared to be a man who had things sorted out. Being a businessman, he was organized and he had all things under his control. Ana expected him to bring her to a party since his motif was to cheer her up and this? This was something beyond her imagination.

Gradually they stopped in front of a grave whose name spelled, "Arianne Stewart".

Ana didn't need to ask who the girl was. It was palpable that Ray loved her so much. He was staring at the grave as if he just saw the person himself for the very first time. It was an epic kind of love—a love so great it could never fade away.

"Ana, meet Arianne, the woman I love."

She awkwardly told the grave, "Hi Arianne! Nice to meet you!"

Ray laughed a little before he cleared his throat and said, "She's the first woman I've ever loved. She was much like Karla. She was a very poor girl and my family was pretty much against her. They were ready to destroy her life but still I married her. It didn't last though since she died of cancer just six months after we tied the knot."

Ana was silent as she let it all sank in. She didn't voice out but she knew that Ray saw Arianne in Karla and it made him love her. It wasn't Karla but the reminiscent aroma that gave him flashbacks of his old happy self. Ana understood why. Looking at Ray, Ana realized that those who love the most are the loneliest.

Then Ray asked, "You're thinking of your baby, Ana?"

"I always do."

"What do you think of when your baby comes to your mind?"

"Dad, it's just . . . I . . . I feel stupid," she cried, "I just feel like I should have known that he was inside me. I should have run over my stomach with my hands. I would've loved him already just by touch of my fingertips."

"Just because he's gone doesn't mean you cannot love him under your fingertips anymore."

"What?" She barely whispered.

Ray answered by lovingly tracing his fingertips along Arianne's engraved name, "We never forget Ana. Love never forgets. You know that and I think it's time for you to listen to yourself. Don't let regret get the best of you."

That made her cry the whole time and then she made the decision.

 _~HH~_

Christian was lying down his bed when his phone rang.

He was pissed off, "What Jack? What now?"

"Christian?"

"Ana?" He sat up straight in one strike of a lightning.

Then she told him the words that could save him, "I'm coming home."

 **A/N: Hi! Thank you so much for reading this chapter and we are closer to the end of the story. I think we will have 25 chapters and this is the 17** **th** **one. So… thank you so much! Please do leave a review or private message regarding this chapter. Thanks!**

 **P.S. Check out my new story, Twilight fanfic called "The Preacher Man's Daughter". I will post the second chapter tomorrow.**


	18. Chapter 15

**A/N: Below.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own FSOG.**

 **Chapter 15**

"You seem to be happy today, Man," Jack noticed the amplified mood of his 'best friend'. Whenever Christian would show up with a huge smile on his face, he thought that he must do something to stop it. The more he had gotten to know Christian for the past year, the more he realized that there was a lot to hate about him. Aside from the fact that he coveted the life that was meant for him, Christian appeared to be loved by many despite the rebel attitude.

"Yeah, I guess," his smile was too big for his statement. His hands clutched the bottle of beer, with fingers tapping faster than the usual tick of the clock. By the way he smirked and the way his eyes appeared, Jack knew that something good was coming for him and it was cutting him to the core.

"Come on, Man, you gotta tell me."

"Nothing, trust me," Christian said before taking one sip.

"Dude, you're seriously getting on my nerves now. Is it about a girl?"

Christian couldn't stop himself from smiling with sheer joy. His lips stretched upward like arrows on the way to the unknown infinite. He informed his friend, "Jack, Ana's coming back tomorrow and . . . and it's just fucking awesome, Man! I have never felt happy in such a long time and this was just what I really wished for since the day she went to Canada. All will be well tomorrow, Man. You'll meet my girl."

Jack wasn't able to respond. For a moment, his world became a photograph with vintage filters featuring Christian's happiness and his non-existent one. He eyed his best friend with intense confusion—confusion not on his part but on the world. What did Christian do to deserve happiness? What didn't he do to deserve Christian's life?

He quickly put on a deceitful mask when he said, "This calls for a celebration! Frank, more drinks please!"

Christian laughed at the happiness Jack shared with him before the bottles of beers were delivered. Christian was about to drink but someone took his attention away from him. Jack took the opportunity to pour something vile and cruel down the yellow colored drink. The drizzling of the white particles signified the tiny raindrops that would've predicted the storm that would follow after the next day.

"Kyle's annoying," Christian muttered, talking about the drunk person who trash talked with him just now.

"Who cares? Your girl's coming home tomorrow so what shall we do?"

Christian grabbed the glass and yelled, "Cheers my Man!"

"Cheers!"

Jack never took his eyes off of Christian's drinking of the alcoholic beverage and then he thought, "He was a city messing with a hurricane."

 _~HH~_

Her blue eyes met the sight of her home once more. It was Seattle, streets wide with countless people with fragile bones and persevering hearts, skies smiling with the sun's glow coming from its teeth, and the road so endless it felt like forever to travel with wheels. However beautiful Seattle might be, it will never come closer to the beauty of him.

Him. Her home.

Him. Christian.

She was coming back to him.

It was a day in October when the wind tangoed with the dried leaves as if they were alive. Ana then realized that autumn paved the way for the dead to be given a second glance. She won't spend this autumn alone, in the memory of her son. She decided that it's time she joined Christian.

No one knew she was coming except for the boy she loved. The cab stopped in front of the Grey's home and it confused Ana as to why he was still here and not with Karla and Harrison. She took one deep breath before she entered the modern architecture design of the Grey's home. Remembering the itinerary of the Greys, Ana was pretty certain that no one's around except for her man.

Little did she know that the house was emptier than before.

Sins tore down the walls and secrets emptied the foundation of this home.

With so much excitement and joy, Ana entered the house and it was like an old friend, looking the same but whispering different words. Her feet knew the steps and she was led to Christian's room. She couldn't wait for the huge embrace and gigantic talks of what happened then walking hand-in-hand towards Blip's tree.

She counted to three. The door flew open.

She was shocked.

Her eyes couldn't believe what they saw.

Her feet stumbled and her hands accidentally brushed off the vase placed on top of his wooden table. The vase crashing sound filled the air and Christian immediately woke up . . . and so did the naked blonde woman wrapped around his arms. He was incoherent at first and Ana was already staring at him like an emotionless statue. Christian immediately knew that everything about this was wrong.

"Ana! Ana, Baby!" His voice was in deep agony before he stood up to put on some pants a simple black T-shirt.

This time Ana turned her back and marched out of his room. She was moving faster than lightning but Christian made it impossible for her to get away from him. With a heavy heart and threatening tears, Ana forced herself to be deaf by Christian's anguish of calling her name.

They were in the living room when Christian finally grabbed her wrist to spin her around. Her hand met his cheek almost too violently and her tears just poured automatically down her face.

"Why?! Christian, Why?!" He almost never understood her voice.

"Ana, I don't know what happened! I am just as shocked as you are right now, but Ana, I am really sorry. I swear to you that this was a huge misunderstanding and—"

"Misunderstanding?! MISUNDERSTANDING?! Christian, you slept with that whore! You slept with her!"

"I didn't! Ana, believe me when I say that I never did!"

Ana sank down the ground and Christian's hand formed into a fist as they covered his mouth to conceal his matching sobs. Aside from the fact that he just woke up and was malevolently shocked, it hurt him most to see her this way.

"I came back here because I thought that we'd go through it together. Christian, I got better but I never got healed. There was still a missing part of me and I thought you'd be the one to fill it. You were the only thing in my mind that makes me want to keep on going. I love you, Christian and I live for you! If it weren't for you and what I thought we had, I would have ceased to wake a long time ago.

I thought I'd come here and we'd fix each other but why? Why are you with her? Did this happen? While I suffered, did you cope by sleeping with random girls? I'm sorry I've mistaken your hotel heart for a hospital. You were supposed to heal me but you want to watch me come and go."

The way she underestimated his love for her pushed him to his breaking point.

She crossed the line and he was undone.

His already formed fist punched the glass wall while he screamed, "Bullshit! Bullshit, Ana! Fucking bullshit!"

Ana, still on the ground, stopped sobbing and the melancholy in her was replaced by a sudden wave of shock. His hand was bleeding as if he just dipped in a bucket full of red blood. He never looked angrier than before. This was his angriest.

"You came and went yourself, Ana. You were the one who fucking drove yourself away when I needed you most! I was more than ready to be strong for you but you? I wasn't even a factor to be strong for. What happened, Ana? Where was the Ana I loved? Where was the Ana who stood up for me? Where was the Ana who had the unconditional love?"

"She's—"

"SHE'S GONE! SHE'S DEAD! You? You're a stranger." Christian shook his head the same pattern Ana's back did.

There was a moment of silence broken when Christian said:

"I love you, Ana but I don't think you still love me."

And just like that, they were a mess.

Little did they know Jack was watching them from the veranda with a smirk in his lips. The hurricane won and it sure left destruction.

 **A/N: Thank you so much for waiting. Don't worry. I always think of Hospital Hearts even when I am having such a HELLISH week. Thank you for the 200 plus reviews! And any reviews to add? Thank you!**


	19. Chapter 16

**A/N: Below.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything about FSOG.**

 **Chapter 16**

When you've turned into a mess, how can you clean yourself when everyone around you was a mess as well? Christian dialled all the numbers from his phone but no one was able to answer. He first thought of Carrick but he was nowhere to be heard. He tried Jack then Luke then Elliott then Mia, but nothing. He got nothing.

He imagined their phones ringing the way his alarm clock does every morning. Just like any other day, he brushed it off and continued sleeping. Much like their responses, he pathetically empathized with his alarm clock.

Christian told himself that he'd never do this but it was as if his feet had its own choice. He stumbled through it and he couldn't even recall how he got a bleeding wound from the right side of his forehead. He was only sure of three things: he reeked of alcohol, his visions were blurry that almost all things were set crookedly, and that he hurt Ana in the worst way possible.

He knocked on the door of an average-looking apartment.

"Christian? Son?" Karla opened the door and her eighteen year old boy fell on her arms. For a moment, they were the embodiment of the Pietta sculpture. It was painful but at least for the first time Karla felt that Christian recognized her as his own mother.

 _~HH~_

Karla healed his wound up for him as Christian's eyes remained blurry. She changed him into cleaner clothes Harrison left with her. She was thankful that she didn't get rid of them. She was melancholic as she was changing him, as she thought of what if's: What if he was still a baby? What if she heard his first words? What if she cradled him until he was able to understand how the earth was never paradisiacal?

Things would have been different.

Things would have been happy.

But Karla wouldn't change it since she had Ana, and she meant the world to her.

"Sleep now, Christian," her voice almost sounded like wind chimes.

"I can't," Yes, he was eighteen but he appeared helpless.

"What happened?"

"I don't know but I was out partying with Jack and I just woke up with a random girl naked next to me, and Ana saw it and . . . and I . . . I . . . I don't know. Everything just went downhill as if it already wasn't bad enough." If only Karla could take away his pain, he would have in one blink of an eye. He was weeping as if it was the end of the world and Karla was certain that he was close to giving up on life itself.

Karla won't let it happen. No mother could let it happen to her child.

"Son, whatever you are going through right now, if you really love each other, forgiveness reigns. Mercy outweighs justice and love and mercy go hand in hand. The fight must have been pretty bad but one thing is for sure, there's no stumbling block too hard to overcome when two hearts collide. You love Ana. Ana loves you. Everything could go wrong, but if what you feel's right then it could correct it. Again, mercy outweighs justice.

If you ask me, I've only loved one man. He broke my heart and took my soul with him. He marked me body and soul, both good and bad scars but it didn't change the fact that I still love him. We were a mess. Before I finally left him, I wrote him a prose."

Christian timidly asked, "How did he respond?"

"I never got the reply."

Silence followed after.

"Sleep now, my son, okay? Daylight's waiting to illuminate your bones by the morrow," Karla asked while kissing his forehead. She almost cried when Christian wrapped his arms around her and pulled his mother closer.

"How can I sleep?"

"Just sleep and know that Mom is here and that everything's going to be okay."

Then the words she longed to hear was finally uttered, "I love you, Mom."

"I love you too, Son. I love you."

Christian realized that a mother's scent was the antidote to sleepless nights.

 _~HH~_

When everything was clear in her mind, Ana decided to balance things out. She let her heart cloud her brain and it got her nowhere. She still felt stung by the venomous words spoken by the love of her life but she didn't let it define what they really are. Yes she was out of the country for so long but it had snapped on her that she could lose him permanently this time.

The thought of losing Christian resurrected the Ana that he thought he lost.

She was now fighting for him. It was almost as if the horrible fight didn't happen three days ago. Dressed in black and killer heels, Ana sat across Harrison Montgomery with thick skin and emotionless eyes. Her fringe added ferocity to her already heated up anger. She worried her lower lip between her teeth and Harrison instantly knew that he was a factor to the anger swirling inside her.

"Have you found anything?" Her voice was unusually cold.

Harrison nodded before saying, "Yes, I've found incredibly remarkable details but first, I'd like to apologize to you."

Just like that, Ana's cold façade quickly faded.

With so much sincerity Harrison spoke, "I am sorry for turning my back on you. Ana, I shouldn't have treated you that way. I shouldn't have let my parents instruct how I live my life. I shouldn't have given you the insecurities you lived with. If only I could turn back time, I wouldn't have hurt you this way."

The sweet Ana came back when she replied, "I deserve it since Ella, my mother—"

"You deserve the best, Ana. You are smart and witty and beautiful and you have a bright future ahead of you. Ana, you are grace and hope. You deserve the life filled with happiness. You deserve the kind of life every girl wants for herself. Don't ever doubt again. You simply deserve every good thing."

One tear rolled down and Ana uttered, "Thank you."

Harrison just gazed at her with the same grey eyes Christian wore when he was weary.

She cleared her throat, changing the whole atmosphere. "What did you get?"

They were back to business.

"Based on the investigation of my team, Christian was drugged. He was drinking beer but clearly something else was there. The girl was drugged as well and they were positioned in an organized way by Jack Hyde and his girlfriend, Elizabeth Morgan. It was a setup, Ana. Christian didn't do anything wrong. In fact, his best friend Jack betrayed him and he still wasn't aware of it."

"Fucking hell," Ana whispered breathlessly.

"We also did an extensive research towards Jack Hyde and he appeared to be the boy Carrick and Grace should have adopted, if Grace didn't just change her mind. He has this prejudice against Christian."

Ana shook her head and expressed in frustration, "Why did this happen? Why are there so many people trying to interfere? Why?"

Harrison replied, "If the love's great then it's not easy."

"I know but . . . but . . . we've spoken words that hurt the both of us! How can it be fixed?"

"If you don't let pride get in the way"

That statement made her think deeply.

Harrison then grabbed something from his drawer. It was an old black leather notebook and somewhere between the pages was a folded paper.

"Read this"

And Ana did.

 _October 1991_

 _To: Harrison Montgomery_

 _From: Karla Montgomery (the last time I'll use your last name)_

 _Every time I close my eyes, I go back in time._

 _I go back to when your hands trailed avenues across my thighs. Now they just formed into a fist then they crash against the mirror. I'd face the cracks that looked like the psychedelic web of doubts and lies tangled between us._

 _I travel to the time when your lips pressed against my forehead like a lost child who found the door to his home. Your lips are homeless now when my forehead permanently arched together, creating lines that match those of the wooden floor._

 _I get lost to when you counted my footsteps when I was a vision in white, hands carrying a bouquet of lavenders and brights. Now the footsteps you count are those I take as I step out of the door, trench coat and luggage intact with the daughter you abandoned wrapped around my arms._

 _Now? I am in an empty room: eyes closed, imagining the beat of your heart . . ._

 _ **beat, stop, beat, stop, beat.**_

 _But the only one's here is the sound so torturous to hear: the clock which says,_

 _tick, tock, tick, tock, tick._

Ana's heart broke when after she read it and it split further when Harrison said, "Ana, if you don't want to end up like me and your mom, please do not let pride get in the way. Go back to Christian and forgive each other. It's the only way. I actually hardened my heart and swore humility off, so I never sent her my reply."

Ana turned the paper to its back and she saw what could have been the resolution to all:

 _I'm sorry._

 _I love you._

 _Come back to me._

 _Please._

 **A/N: Whooo! Writing this chapter seemed so stress-free. What can you say about this? Thank you so much for the follows, favorites, reviews, and private messages! You guys are very much appreciated! I love all of you! Thank you so much!**

 **Six chapters left! OMG!**


	20. Carrick

**A/N: Below.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own FSOG**

 **K**

Mr. Grey once heard that sometimes the mirrors and photographs show entirely different reflection of a single person. One thing they have in common though is the fact that they can lie. Carrick doesn't know anymore; he doesn't know if he is really happy like what the photos say, or if he's really sad like what the mirror shouts. Carrick doesn't know anymore. He was in an enigma of somewhere as a form to escape.

He tied his bow for the evening as neatly as he could. He was a man with a full life but with an empty heart.

"Don't you look dashing, Carrick?" Grace asked standing from the well-furnished door.

"I suppose so," Grace was immediately downed by his reply. If things didn't just go out of control, they would've acted like young lovers flirting.

"Uhm . . . Carrick?" Grace gave up. He's never gonna forgive her anyway.

"What?" He asked curtly.

"Thank you for inviting me over for Elliott's birthday dinner." She sounded like a stranger.

"You're welcome," and he too.

"Carrick?" She called her name once more.

"Yes?"

"Regardless of what happened—of all the lies that occurred and the mess I've created, one real thing is that I love you. I never loved anyone the same way I did. It's just you, Carrick. Just you."

With that, she walked away. Carrick's heart pushed his feet to run after her and pull her in for an embrace, but his mind otherwise pulled him back claiming that he must be wiser than that.

He's not the same anymore. He's two souls, with one killing him every second.

 _~HH~_

Ever since Elliott Grey met Kate Kavanaugh in one of her gigs, he never cared of anything lavish at all. He was supposed to be the guy who would die for a gigantic birthday blowout but he just settled for a simple dinner surrounded by the people he loved and respected. With Kate sitting next to him, they planned to announce their engagement.

"Are you sure they're not gonna be mad at me?" Kate was jittery.

"We're of legal age, Kate." Elliott smiled before kissing each of her knuckles.

"You are crazy."

"You love crazy."

"Yes, I do." They shared a modest kiss before Christian appeared with Mia. Carrick followed after and Grace shyly sat right next to her estranged husband. It was no denying that they were paper dolls and one drop of water could tear them all down. Whatever solid foundation was built for their family, it was fake and it was nothing but illusion. They're paper dolls and Elliott's already crumpled by that thought.

Christian sat right next to Kate and he was awfully silent.

They were supposed to start dinner but the next guests arrived and Christian's heartbeat sped up as it was his parents . . . with Ana. They were staring at each other and Ana's eyes sparkled as if they didn't have one huge horrible fight.

"Happy Birthday, Elliott!" Karla greeted warmly.

Elliott responded, "Thank you, Karla. By the way, this is Kate, my fian-girlfriend."

Kate smiled at his almost slip of the tongue. Karla stared at them sceptically before taking a seat. Grace, on the other hand, just stared at nothing. She still can't afford to look at both parents, since guilt and regret were the worst enemies a man can have.

Christian was breathless when Ana sat right next to him. While everyone was singing the traditional birthday song, the two seemed to be lost with each other. For the first time in the agonizing hours he spent, he was pacified in an increment way. It was an oxymoron how Ana could be his destruction and cure at the same time. He guessed that love will always be some kind of opposite: you feel crazy with it or crazy without it, it's certain and uncertain at the same time, it's peace and war all at once. Love is art; it's all things in one.

Grey eyes met blue ones when Ana's hand took a hold of Christian's. When their fingers finally laced together, it was when they realized that they've been homesick for a long, long time.

They found each other once again.

Ana knew that it's just her and he never looked at anybody else.

Christian knew that she was back to being her usual self. This was the Ana he fell for.

They shared a smile.

Elliott cleared his throat and smiled, "Thank you everyone for being here. Actually I chose an intimate celebration for one intimate reason. I'd like to announce that—"

When he was supposed to reveal the engagement, a strong gunshot was heard. Everyone panicked and each held onto each other. Carrick automatically wrapped his arms around Grace while Harrison did the same to Karla. Christian was supposed to do the same with Ana but she chose to accompany the shaken Mia. Elliott and Christian checked where the gunshot came from but Elliott got punched at the face in one snap of a moment, causing him to knock on the floor. Kate cried but Ana hushed her.

Christian met the culprit and it was Jack-Jack, his very own best friend. Jack, with a gun. He looked like he hasn't slept for days. His eyes were too red and his hair dishevelled. He smelled like he hadn't bathed for days. He reeked of alcohol and smoke and dark circles under his eyes were visible even from afar. His clothes weren't ironed and he looked like he was ready to shoot anyone.

"Jack? What are you doing?"

Christian received an answer when the gun was pointed right at him. Ana immediately ran and stood in front of Christian.

"Ana!" They all screamed.

Regardless of the seriousness of the situation, Christian got lost at the nostalgia that crept up on him. It was grade school all over again, when seven year old Ana extended both her arms and bravely took the pebbles for Christian's sake. She was doing the same, but this time it could cause her life.

"Never lay a finger on my Christian," she was brave but still sounded like she could be took down by one blow.

Christian immediately pulled her behind him and faced the gun like a man.

"Jack, why? WHY?" He screamed.

"Because this was supposed to be my life! They were supposed to be my parents! I was supposed to have this house! I shouldn't have suffered all the time! I should have been happy because I deserved it!"

Grace tenderly asked, "You are Jack Hyde?"

"YES I AM!" He answered before shooting the gun upward then pointed it back to Christian, "and I am going to kill you now."

Before he could pull the trigger, Carrick ran to him and took a grasp of his wrist. The gun was pointed everywhere and they all tried to escape. The gun took its turn from west, to north, to east, to a random place, until a shot was heard.

Blood was everywhere.

Screams occupied the room.

 **A/N: We are nearing to the end. Let me hear your thoughts?**

 **Thank you so much for reading.**


	21. Chapter 17

**A/N: Below**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own FSOG or its Characters**

 **Chapter 17**

Ana found herself in her old bedroom, reconciling with her journal. Her fingers traced along the pages of the leaves as if it were shaking hands with an old friend she hasn't seen for years. It had been more than one year yet things have been more dramatic. She was pacing back and forth, pen tapping against the black notebook like the slowing of her heartbeat she found post the most climactic part of the day. She closed her eyes and realized that maybe things will not always be this way, or maybe they will be. She doesn't know.

The recent happenings haven't been normal. They've been turned into a pile of problems seemingly unsolved. Ana believed there's a light at the end of the tunnel and often she thought that light was the hopeful dream that nothing was wrong. But what was the light?

Then she found herself writing.

 _ **Dear Diary,**_

 _ **I am very sorry for not being able to write to you. I haven't been that attentive much lately. I guess this is just how it is when things are very overwhelming. Diary, I haven't been fine. The last thing we talked about was how Christian and I were like the sea and the sky. After that came a downward spiral. We found out we were switched at birth, we lost our child, and we almost died because of Jack. Diary, Jack died. He was shot because of defense. Is it bad to feel relieved about somebody's death?**_

 _ **Diary, Is it always going to be darkness? What is the light? Where is the light?**_

 _ **The light is forgiveness.**_

"What a day, huh?" Harrison started a conversation with Karla while he walked her home. If it were only up to her, she would insist on going home alone. What happened in Elliott's birthday party sent her a wakeup call though. Karla was never the type to be shaken. In fact, she's a strong woman who endured too many trials and tribulations even at such a young age, yet the gunshot just a few hours ago reminded her how life could be so short, and how it could fuck you over a million times.

She decided to let it all out. She chose not to be quiet anymore.

"Harrison?" Her voice was different.

"Yes?"

"Did you ever love me?"

Harrison paused on his tracks and Karla eventually did the same. With all the courage she beheld, Karla raised her head to meet his eyes and they were already wet. He looked anguished and vulnerable at the same time, and he hadn't been like that for years already. Harrison mirrored her thoughts too. Both thought that they would have died.

Karla asked again with unexpected emotions, "Did you ever love the kiosk girl?"

Harrison replied grabbing her hands and this time she didn't push him away, "I loved you, I love you, and I always will. Karla, things haven't been easy. Somewhere in between our story was ruined all because of me. I know it's all my fault and I've been dying to come back to you for so long but I just can't because I was stupid and because I was so broken. I don't expect you to forgive me, Karla. If you never forgive me, I will definitely understand."

There was a long period of silence.

She broke the eyes by clearing her throat, "Wow! Such a long answer for a short question! I just asked if you ever did love me."

Harrison reminisced, "Karla, I remember that day clearly as you do. I would be inside my car while you would be entering the building carrying the bag of food but I still thought you looked the most beautiful then I asked you—no, I demanded you to eat with me and I was drinking that iced soda while we were talking and . . . I love you, Karla. I love you since the day the ice in my drink melted."

Karla's heart melted too and then she decided they've wasted so much time so she just asked him, "Can we go back to getting to know each other once more? Can we go back to the start?"

"I should be the one to ask you that."

"Yes" was her answer.

 _ **The light is the space to heal.**_

To say that he was still in shock was an understatement. Yes, Carrick had faced different life-threatening events especially with his profession as a lawyer but what happened just proved that things are scarier when the ones you truly cared the most do get involved.

Carrick finally let down his anger and pride and acknowledged the fact that he loved Grace to the extent that he was more than willing to die for her. She was the first thing he aimed to protect when Jack emerged. Carrick sighed and finally decided to walk to their bedroom and clear things out with her. But as he did, he saw her pack her bags as if she's almost ready to leave at the moment.

"Grace? Where are you going?"

"Carrick . . ." She didn't need to say a word. Her eyes said so. She was in deep agony. She was in so much pain. She blamed herself for everything, and she might even go crazy if she just let it all in. Carrick understood, more than anybody could.

He did what he thought was fit for her condition: he wrapped his arms around her and there she started to break down. She cried like a baby and Carrick said sorry all over again for being the person who should've been the one by her side, but never did.

Carrick kissed her forehead when he whispered, "I will be waiting. I will be waiting."

 _ **The light is the love so pure.**_

His eyes opened to such whiteness—the kind of whiteness that blinded the eyes. It was the kind of white that needed so much adjustment just to make sure everything was okay. He was sure he was dead since what he saw was the sky of heaven. Elliott looked around and people were all wearing white.

Just like before, his lips uttered the name that was glued to his tongue, "Kate?"

"Elliott? Elliott?" She sounded so relieved and despite Elliott's unclear sight, she still looked so beautiful. He felt her arms wrapped around his neck and he felt the way her breath hit the nape of his neck. He was in heaven but she was a different kind of heaven.

"Are we dead, Kate?" Elliott asked.

She scowled and hit him hard that he moaned in pain, "No you fool! We can't be dead! We can't be dead! I don't wanna be a dead bride!"

Elliott smiled despite the bearable pain she caused. She was so cute and yes, they weren't dead.

Kate changed her mood again when she kissed his cheek and whispered, "Thank you for waking up. Thank you. Thank God!"

"I love you."

"Back at you."

 _ **The light is the genesis—the beginning of something so beautiful.**_

The hospital's waiting area seemed so stressful. Even though Mia was raised in a home where material things were abundant, she still hasn't forgotten that there were still people in need. She looked around and felt so much sympathy. She once read that the word "positive" only becomes negative in hospitals and you can see it in everybody's eyes. She was shaken but on top of that, still worried of Elliott's condition.

To distract herself, she texted some of her friends and there only about two of them so she pressed "back" again and again and that's when the photo of her crush appeared to be her phone's wallpaper . . . actually, a half-naked photo of her crush.

"You have a crush on Ethan Kavanaugh? He looks good shirtless! Damn!" The person who sat next to her said and she almost freaked out.

"Oh yes! Yes! Yes! Look at those abs! Not two, not four, but six! And those biceps that are—" Mia gulped and suddenly turned embarrassed. She was beet red. The person who sat next to her was none other than Ethan himself.

"Hi! I am Ethan and I do have a six pack," he offered his hands for her to shake.

With his cocky grin matched with his blonde dishevelled hair, Mia stuttered, "M-Mia . . . Grey." She took his hand and the electric currents soon turned into an electric shock.

 _~HH~_

The knock on the door interrupted Ana in her writing. It was no other than Christian who looked . . . relieved after everything. He knew he wasn't supposed to be this way but he felt grateful that the two of them were still alive. He felt like it was one giant obstacle before they could catch up a break. He slowly walked to her room and sat right next to her.

"Ana, I never cheated on you and—"

"Shhhh. . . ." she pacified him, gently putting her fingers on the surface of his lips.

Christian grasped her hand and played with it as if it was the first time. Their skins were ignited once more due to the cure of the homesickness they have felt. He held her hand tighter than ever when he asked, "Let me explain?"

Ana nodded.

"I didn't mean what I said, Ana. I love the Ana yesterday, the Ana today, and the Ana tomorrow. I love the Ana who would get mad. I love the Ana who would be happy. I love the Ana would kneel in weakness in front of me. I love the Ana who held her head up high because of strength. I love the Ana who has scars. I love the Ana who is bulletproof.

Ana, what I'm trying to say is that I am in love with every version of you."

She suddenly felt overwhelmed and lucky to have her greatest love with her.

It was her turn.

"Christian, I love you. So much. We both lived in the life of an upper class and we were pretty much given the entire universe but Christian? The only universe I'd be glad to get lost with, is the universe of you. Everything about you is a world I have to venture in."

Then he put the hand—her hand that he was holding to his chest, pressing it until she felt how raw there love was. There was the heat and there was a tear.

She used her free hand to hold his wrist—to run her fingers through the wristband she gave him before.

 _ **The light is the universe two soulmates share.**_

 **A/N: WOW! I gotta say that was the most emotional I have ever been. You guys are really good. You inspire me everyday. Please do tell me what you think of this chapter. And yes, this is a Valentine's Day special chapter. Lol. I am single though. Don't have a boyfriend. Don't have a date. Still I was glad to be able to write a chapter full of love. Lol.**

 **Thank you!**

 **Reviews pwease?**


	22. Chapter 18

**A/N: Below**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own any stuff about FSOG. I just own Hospital Hearts.**

 **Chapter 18**

What's the meaning of family? It's five fingers seen as one hand.

Christian never really thought about the meaning of family because when he was just a small child, he thought he lost it. The only family he had ever known was Ella whom he thought was his mother. Of course, he knew the truth now but it didn't mean that the pain still wasn't there. It wasn't as painful as before but he still felt a hinge of stab each time he looked in front of the mirror half-naked. The scars were still there and he guessed that it will always be there.

"Love?" A beautiful voice asked from behind him and just like that the pain he felt slowly faded away.

"Love . . ." he mimicked her word but he sounded differently.

She walked across her room and wrapped her arms around him from behind. She kissed the back of his neck playfully and Christian closed his eyes, feeling enveloped by the depth of her affection. She made trails of kisses and Christian felt a sense of belongingness to the streets she made on his back.

Christian uttered, "Ana, the three things I truly value most is me, my dreams, and my family."

"And no me?" She playfully asked and he could imagine her raising her brow.

"You're all of it," Christian said before he turned around to press his lips against hers then down to her neck. He took off her clothes and the rest was history.

 _~HH~_

They've done it four times, obviously missing each other's presence. Christian who was feeling exhausted slept soundly while Ana encircled her arms around his firm body, head rested against his hard chest. She thought that he was a song.

There's the crescendo and decrescendo in the rise and fall of his chest, the wind plays the strings of his hair perfectly hitting all the right chords and his snore was much like a staccato. Then before she knew it she fell asleep with his lullaby breath.

 _ **One month later . . .**_

Christian, Karla, and Harrison were on top of a hill as the sun began to set. It was the first time the three went out together as a family. Karla made sandwiches and Harrison devoured it. Christian laughed at the sight of how happy his parents looked like. It was a chicken sandwich and he understood why his father was pretty much obsessed with it.

Harrison and Karla were tickling each other as if they were teenagers still and Christian just stared at them with loving awe. What he had on his mind was that it could be Ana and him in the future. He was certain that Ana would make him feel like a lovesick teenager even when he reached his parents' age and beyond that. Of course, the other thing that made him amazed was that there was sheer love between his parents. It only proved that once pride gets out of the way, happiness prevails.

"Oh dear Lord! Look at my baby boy! Your face is dirty," Christian blushed at how his mother reacted when there was mayonnaise at the side of his mouth. She wiped them carefully as if he was a baby and Christian laughed and even tried to stop his mother.

"Mom, mom, stop it! I am not a baby anymore."

"Yes, Karla, just stop it!" Harrison reprimanded her but what he did next was that he helped her wipe the mayonnaise off of their son's face. Christian then guffawed and his back was pressed against the green grasses. He was rolling out of laughter and his parents were laughing louder than him.

"Mom, Dad, stop!" They didn't listen though.

Christian found a way to stand up and it was almost as if he wasn't an eighteen year old but a five year old boy. He was running and running and giggling like a small boy with his parents chasing behind him.

Then before the sunset, three silhouettes of a family ran and it was infinite.

 _ **Two Months Later . . .**_

The eighteen year old couple closed one chapter in their lives as both have graduated high school already. Ana completed hers in Canada while Christian in the school where they first fell in love and gotten together. He was wearing his graduation cap and coat while Ana clung onto him like a human koala.

"Love, I'm gonna greet one of my friends."

"I won't let go," Ana's voice was childish and her embrace around his neck tightened.

"Love," Christian can't stop it anymore: he laughed like crazy.

"I love you!" Ana was like a child but Christian still kissed the tip of her nose and laughed at the silliness she portrayed.

The announcer's voice was clear when he said, "Our program will start in a minute."

Christian gave Ana a kiss on the cheek before she finally let go of him and frowned like a four year old. Christian just smiled at her before he took a seat right next to Luke. They gave each other the brotherly handshake, wordlessly saying that it was a fun friendship and whatever that's ahead of them will not separate them and their bonds. When they get to see each other, it will almost be as if graduation day was just yesterday.

The program was usual and there was a valedictory speech coming from Leila. She clearly stated on her speech that she was valedictorian because of Luke. Then after the speech they were called one by one and when it was Christian's turn, Ana was howling like his biggest fan and Christian pressed his palm against his face.

She clearly was something.

After the ceremony, Ana clung onto him like a koala once more but this time she kissed his cheeks repetitively not caring that the Grey family was there with Harrison and Karla. Once they reached the school field, Ana unwrapped her clingy arms and took a hold of the camera acting like the supportive photographer girlfriend.

She clicked the camera and Christian looked stupid in some but they all just laughed at him. He was their high school graduate and everyone was extremely proud of him.

Then Ana took a photo of Carrick, Christian, Mia, Elliott, Kate and Ethan multiple times and Christian swore his lips felt numb from smiling. Then everyone turned silent when someone inserted herself between Christian and Carrick. Everyone was left speechless.

"I hope you don't mind. It's a family picture, right?"

It was Grace who looked brighter now.

Christian responded by embracing her and kissing the top of her head lovingly. Then he placed the graduation cap on her and the interrupted laughter came back.

A family picture it is.

 _ **Three Months Later . . .**_

"Are you ready, Christian?" Ana asked and Christian nodded. She wore a bright dress while Christian wore a baby blue one. He took the basket from Ana and they held hands as they walked to the Grey backyard.

The tree was matured now and it was big enough to give them shade.

Ana and Christian sat under the tree and they were silent as Ana placed the picnic mat and food in an organized manner. The two then felt the breeze of the wind and there was no hint of pain like before. It was like the two of them were reminiscing and the pain was too tired to attack them once more. They finally accepted that their child was not with them and all they have to do was accept it.

Ana sounded sentimental when she looked at the tree and talked to it as if it was a person, "Blip, I think you should know that Mommy and Daddy first talked under the tree. Mommy told him to marry her but he wasn't speaking any word. Mommy was persistent though. She still loves him and she never ever stopped chasing him. And look what I found while cleaning my room."

It was the drawing Ana did when she was only a kindergartener. She and Christian were stick figures but it was evident that it was a wedding since the drawing showed a dove and a bouquet with the female stick figure with a veil.

Christian took the time to look at her and he realized that nothing changed. She was still the young girl who loved him from the start. They were tested but they made it so he knew that it was the time to ask her.

"Ana?"

"Yes?"

Before she knew it, he was down on one knee.

"Will you marry me?"

Ana who was too shocked stood up and looked at him incredulously.

She was too surprised, "C-Christian?"

He then grabbed the drawing and there were lines showing how crumpled it was. He kind of cringed at that since his five year old self was the one who crumpled it and threw on his face. He shook his head from the memory and then he asked her, "Let's make this drawing real?"

"YES!" Ana screamed on top of her lungs and Christian stood up and wrapped her arms around her. He spun her around and around and whispered, "There's no ring yet though—"

She interrupted him with a soft kiss, sealing them forever.

With the tree as their witness, Christian definitely knew what family meant.

 **A/N: Wow! I am very emotional with this chapter. Three more to go and I will mark this story as complete. This chapter is important to me in a way that I dedicate this to my mom, dad, and brother. They have shown me what family means. And if you can appreciate the meaning of this chapter, you can give me a review. Thank you so much!**


	23. Chapter 19

**A/N: Below**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own FSOG**

 **Chapter 19**

 _One Year Later . . ._

Everyone wore pastel in the Grey backyard. Christian was waiting under the tree, his tie being fixed by Harrison. His hands were shaking and it was because of the mixture of nervousness and excitement. Harrison gave him a fatherly pat on the back before he took a seat right next to Karla.

It wasn't easy for the two when they announced they were getting married. A lot of people were furious since they were just teenagers. Ana never let it get in the way though. When Christian became doubtful, she encouraged him to stay strong. For Ana, the aisle to the altar started right after he proposed. The two never gave up despite what they said. Yes, they're just nineteen but their love for each other was strong enough to make the two happy.

As the guests were chatting and some children were spinning around like tumbleweeds in a tornado, Christian thought of a lot of things.

He thought of how they went through hell only to realize that it wasn't hell because it was with Ana, instead, it was just a stumble along paradise. He was grateful that she found love in his empty eyes, sad lips, and denying arms. He was a stain she wiped off using her water love—transparent and pure. He held her heart like a butterfly and she held his body like a garden.

The colors around them were relaxing. Such pastures looked like an image colored by crayons.

Crayons . . .

When Christian was a young boy, he always wondered why colors were taught and why they seemed so important. People would ask him what's his favourite color and his answer would vary depending on his mood. But now that he knew how colors reflect moments, he knew exactly what his favourite colors were:

 _Blue_. Her eyes had haunted him ever since they were four. She was a feisty little thing who always stared at him from afar and stared more intensely when she knew he caught her staring. She was a fireball who refused to slow down when it came to him. A whole novel was written in her eyes.

Peach. That was the color of her bicycle when she chased after him—when she pretended that she cannot breathe so that they'd have their first kiss. Christian, on the other hand, pretended that it meant nothing to him when it felt like everything. He even remembered comparing their first kiss to a book. Little did they know it was just the prologue.

 _Orange_. The color they wore during the community service punishment. Christian remembered how Ana wore heels since she was trying to get him to like her. She didn't need to since his thoughts were filled of her. He thought of her even when he sleeps and she may have thought that she was only delving into his surface but she already got him skin deep. Again, they kissed.

Green. It was the first date when they told each other they were the sky and the sea then the fireworks invaded what ceiling-less sky above them. They shared each other's souls that time and since then, they've explored each other's galaxy. That was the time the two of them realized what sex meant; it meant two planets around the orbit revolving 'round the brightest star. It meant deep and it meant love.

 _Grey._ Not because of his eyes but because of the wristband Ana gave him that same night. He brought her to Oz, according to her and he thought of how beautiful it was that she turned poetic because of him. Since then, he felt naked without the wristband. Right now in the wedding? He's wearing it.

 _White._ She was a vision in white.

While waiting under the tree with the priest and Elliott as his bestman, Ana was finally walking with a bouquet in hand, and Ray was the one who walked with her. Her white wedding gown suited the shape of her body while her veil still made her beautiful face visible. Her eyes were watery and her lips were directing upwards. Christian gulped and he felt the tears. This was really it.

As the two lovebirds finally faced each other, they gave each other a secretive smile; one that only the two of them knew. The priest began the usual words but the two could barely hear him. They were just lost in their own worlds.

When it was time to speak their vows, Ana went first, "Christian, we've had moments where I tell you sweet words like wedding vows but believe me, I've never told you enough. I promise to stay with you forever. We've been through a lot and we will still go through a lot, but all you have to remember is that I will never leave your side. I love you so much."

Christian, on the other hand, was kind of goofy which was rare, "You're right, Ana. The two of us had moments when we share the deepest of our soul. You mentioned to me once that I bring out the poetry in you and believe me, I want to write a poem for you but I just can't. Don't get me wrong but the words are endless when they come to you. They can't fit into a poem.

So I decided to sing to you instead but we have a problem about that: I am not a singer. I took lessons from Ethan and Kate but it went not as good as I planned. I decided to find a song and read it to you instead. So it's like singing and poetry combined."

The guests laughed and when it faded, Christian read the song he found:

" _This is a song by the Waterboys,_

 _How long will I love you? As long as stars are above you and longer if I can._

 _How long will I need you? As long as the seasons need to follow their plan._

 _How long will I be with you? As long as the sea is bound to wash upon the sand._

 _How long will I want you? As long as you want me to and longer by far._

 _How long will I hold you? As long as your father told you, "as long as you can."_

 _How long will I give to you? As long as I live through you, however long you say._

 _How long will I love you? As long as the stars are above you and longer if I may."_

And thus they sealed it with a kiss.

 _~HH~_

 _Another year later . . ._

Harrison's life was all about the hotels and estates he inherited but it wasn't about that anymore. Ever since the truth was revealed and things eventually worked out, he realized there was life outside his successes. There was more to experience that gaining money each minute.

He's a billionaire but the gift of family, friends, and love, he realized, was more priceless. Gone were the days he won't sleep because of meetings and e-mails. It was replaced by the will to go home each morning because he knew someone was waiting for him. Someone once said, "Sometimes the only one who can heal you is the one who broke you." It was the other way around for Karla and him but they just healed each other.

The picture frames were lining up and the newest one was the picture of Ana and Christian on their honeymoon in the Bahamas. Harrison smiled at the sight of his son and daughter-in-law very happy.

"Sir, the applicant is here," his secretary informed, interrupting him.

"Bring her in," his voice had command.

The secretary nodded.

He was in need for a general manager in one of his hotels in Washington.

"Good morning Sir," The applicant greeted as long as she entered the room and Harrison was surprised.

It was Anastasia Grey.

 _~HH~_

The sky was starless and it looked like a black fabric to Christian. He didn't know why he was meeting up with his father for private dinner. The two of them were alone in a five-star restaurant and the wide windows made the entire sky and city lights visible.

Sooner than later, Carrick arrived. He looked wearier than usual and Christian knew that something was definitely wrong.

"Dad, are you okay?"

"I should be the one asking you that. Why'd you dropout from college?" His voice was timid.

"Well, it's just not for me and I'm planning to start my own business. I still don't have the capital but I will find the way."

There was a poignant silence afterwards.

Carrick breathed deeply before he reminisced, "Remember that time when you were seven years old and some nine year olds bullied you? I was more than furious. I immediately ordered those kids to be expelled since they were so mean to you. I didn't know you meant to much to me, my son. Since then, I never wanted you to be hurt anymore."

"Dad, why are we talking about this?"

He continued, "And Ana was there to save you. She was so small yet she was willing to be wounded for you. We knew she liked you so much and I thought of how beautiful life could be if the two of you end up together."

"Dad . . ." He was worried.

There were tears forming in Carrick's eyes when he replied, "Son, I am ready to die now that I've seen the two of you end up together."

"DAD! TELL ME WHAT'S WRONG!"

Then he revealed, "I have cancer."

 **A/N: The song I used was "How long will I Love You" by the Waterboys or Ellie Goulding. Two chapters to go guys. Thank you so much for the reviews. And more reviews? Pwease.**


	24. Chapter 20

**A/N: Below**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own FSOG**

 **Chapter 20**

He never felt like this before. Each step he made weighed a million pounds and he was holding the same kind of heavy feeling deep inside. Christian couldn't even breathe properly. He wanted to go home to Ana and shed every emotion that he had felt. His father had cancer. His father had cancer. Each time he thought of that his legs would wobble and he desired to kneel down.

Christian and Ana lived in Escala right now. He wasn't even sure if she was there since she's been busy working as a general manager.

When Christian opened the door though, he was proven wrong. There she was the most beautiful girl in the world with hair pulled up to a messy ponytail and neck glimmered with some drops of sweat. She was still in her corporate attire yet her hand still held the frying pan.

"Christian, love, you're here—" Her cheerful greeted him as soon as she noticed his presence but she stopped as soon as Christian knelt before her. The frying pan dropped at the same time Christian's knees met the floor.

Ana walked fast and sat in front of him, "What's wrong? What's wrong, Christian?"

She became worried when Christian sobbed louder that he could not respond verbally anymore.

"What's wrong? Tell me."

Christian just said, "Dad has cancer. Carrick has cancer."

Ana leaned backwards, completely taken over by shock then a sudden wave of sadness crashed over her entire being. She thought of Carrick and how time was going to be difficult and short for him. She looked at her husband and she was just as helpless as he was. She was helpless in a way that she didn't know how to fix this.

"What can I do for you, my love? Tell me please." She was crying too.

"Just soothe my back as I cry and it will be alright."

"And she did."

 _~HH~_

 _One Year Later . . ._

 _Carrick heard the beat of the monitor by his bedside. He was in the hospital and he was sure that he would leave this world any moment by now. He was bald and skinny, far from the man he used to be. When he'd look at the mirror, he would see a completely different person._

 _But his wife, Grace told him once, "Carrick, no matter how you look like right now you are still the most beautiful to me. It doesn't erase the most beautiful moments I had with you for years. You are the best husband I could ever ask for and you've become a great father to our children."_

 _Speaking of his wife, she's beside him right now holding his weak hand. The two shared a smile that had mutual understanding. The two knew that this could be the last time they expressed their love and the last time their skins would be in contact._

 _Despite having a weak voice, Carrick still managed to say, "Grace, I love you. I love you so much. Can I ask for one favour?"_

" _What is it?" It was obvious that she was trying hard not to cry._

" _Will you be like the clock, Grace? After I leave this place, will you move on and continue on with life? I don't want you to pause my life just because of my absence. I know you love me but please don't forget to love yourself."_

" _Carrick . . ." she suddenly sobbed._

" _Now stop crying, Grace. Shhh . . . I will always be with you," he pacified._

 _Grace still cried._

 _~HH~_

 _It was a day the Grey family dreaded. Each of them formed a circle by the bed of Carrick who was now breathless. Grace was sobbing like a baby and Elliott was there to embrace her. Mia on the other hand cried silently and even held the cold hand of her father. While Christian? Christian was stone cold as he held the brown envelope in his hand. As the world around him crashed down, he decided to read what was written for him._

 _ **Dear Christian,**_

 _ **Son, first of all, I've written all of you a letter so don't think that you are my favourite . . . though you really are my favourite.**_

 _ **I am so proud of you. You've overcome all obstacles in your life and you can overcome what's yet to come. I was a witness all throughout your journey and I could attest that it wasn't easy. Your strength brought me wonders. You won't ever comprehend my pride and joy when it comes to you.**_

 _ **Blood or water . . . you are family—we are family.**_

 _ **You were this tiny speechless boy when we first met and it wasn't easy to be your dad. It never was. You were a handful even when you reached your teenage years, but look at you now: you've become such a great man for Ana. I love her too. She's my second favourite daughter next to my Mia, of course.**_

 _ **Now Christian . . . I'd like you to sign some papers since I'm giving you an appropriate amount or even more, to start your own business.**_

 _ **Explore the world my son.**_

 _ **Be bold.**_

 _ **Be eccentric.**_

 _ **Be amazing.**_

 _ **Be YOU.**_

 _ **With all the love,**_

 _ **From: Dad**_

"Christian?" Elliott's hoarse voice called him.

Christian just stared at him with red eyes.

"I think you should move to next room. She needs you."

 _~HH~_

He listened to his older so he moved to another room. The hospital was hectic as usual but it was almost as if no one was there. The moment was like the background gone black and the spotlight was shined on Christian's face. In contrary to the uncomfortable steps he made before, this was a great kind of heavy.

What happened next was life-changing. Yes, opening the door could be a life changing event. Then he saw his wife with their new bundle in her arms. Harrison and Karla left to give the two of them their own private moment.

The two twenty-one year olds kissed before they stared in awe at their son.

He was cooing and they thought that it was the most beautiful sound in the world.

"Hold him my love. Hold little Carrick Theodore."

Christian paused at the mention of his name, but he did take the baby in his arms and there he felt how fragile the world can be when wrapped around his arms. Right at that moment he had a reason to be strong and he had every right to still be happy despite all the trials he had encountered.

"Carrick, my son," he whispered.

That's when he realized that life was a cycle of living then dying and the only supreme happiness can only be achieved through the intangible objects such as love and friendship. You can't bring the world with you when you die. Act as if you are the world because in way, you were the world when you were born.

"I already love him," Christian said.

Ana kissed his cheek before saying, "Me too."

It was bittersweet.

 **A/N: It's bittersweet for me too since I can't believe I am writing the epilogue next. Thanks for reading! Please leave a review.**


	25. Epilogue

**A/N: Below**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own FSOG and its characters**

 **Epilogue**

It was one hectic day at work and after hours of facing his laptop, Christian decided to stretch a little and rest his eyes. It had already been two years and he was too successful for a twenty-three year old. Grey Enterprises Holdings was the most successful business in the country and it'll go globally very soon. He was already a billionaire, and it felt different this time because it was him and, not his parent, who makes the money.

There were a series of photographs placed in order on top of his desk. He sighed and somehow he smiled. These were the only remnants when time was frozen and so were the smiles and memories. It was a heart inside a frame moment when his fingers traced some of the photographs.

There was one of his parents, Karla and Harrison whom he had great times with. They got remarried but they still fight like what couples too. There was Grace who took a vacation in Africa for medical service, and she still cries at night because of missing Carrick. Then Elliott and Kate were there too, happily married yet still don't have children. Lastly, Mia and Ethan who are so crazily in love that they break up and make up over and over again.

"How's it going right there?" A soft voice asked him. Ana sat on the couch with her large belly. She hasn't been working since she's ready to pop anytime. Christian who was so protective just wanted her to be by his side. Ana just laughed at that and chose to comply since she wanted to spend more time with her busy husband.

She stood up and walked like a duck then she wrapped her arms around Christian's neck from behind and rested her chin against his shoulder.

"What are you thinking about?"

Christian said, "About how life's not perfect at all."

"It's not," Ana agreed.

"Ana, every day is like a fight. There might be five seconds of happiness but there are ten seconds of sadness too. But with you, it feels like it's only five seconds. Like our vows, we said that we've been through a lot and we will still go through a lot but I think I can survive it with you, because Ana? You are my hospital heart. All throughout this life we heal each other—we could stand whatever it is as long as we have us."

Humans as we are: we get ill and we get damaged. Life is not guaranteed to be perfect and it could burn you like a wildfire in just one second. It's definitely hard. It's definitely difficult but as long as you have your hospital heart—your one true healer, then you can get through it.

It could be God. It could be your dream. It could be your family. It could be your lover. It could be anyone who makes you wanna stand up again.

Ana kisses Christian chastely on the lips and they were interrupted by a joyful chuckle.

Two year-old Carrick was playing on the floor with his toys and he had been treating this room as his playground whenever Christian missed him. He uttered words like, "Dada! Mama!" over and over again and Ana and Christian's hearts just soared.

"Do you hear that laugh?" Ana whispered.

Christian replied, "It's the best sound in the world."

 **A/N: Thank you so much for the support I've received while writing this fanfiction. You guys are simply just the best. I love you and you made me finish this story. It has been a great experience and YOU are part of it.**

 **Thank you daytonalay for the encouraging private messages. You sure are the supergirl!**

 **Thank you thank you, each of you!**

 **Now, who is your hospital heart?**


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